China’s exports in August rose 9.4 percent year-on-year to $208.5 billion, with monthly trade surplus reaching an all-time high of $49.8 billion, customs data showed on Sept 8.

China’s imports continued to contract last month, with a year-on-year decrease of 2.4 percent, to $158.6 billion, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement.

Trade surplus in August jumped 77.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high again, after reaching an all-time high of $47.3 billion in July, the data showed.

Last month, China’s total trade volume rose 4 percent year-on-year to $367.1 billion.

In the first eight months, total trade edged up by 2.3 percent to $2.77 trillion, with exports up 3.8 percent to $1.48 trillion and imports up 0.6 percent to $1.28 trillion.