China’s exports declined at a slower pace in September while imports remained subject to downward pressures, new official figures showed.

The Chinese General Administration of Customs announced on Tuesday that exports in September dropped 1.1 percent from a year earlier in yuan terms following a 6.1-percent decline in August.

Imports tumbled 17.7 percent year-on-year in yuan terms, falling for the 11th consecutive month. The slump widened compared to the 14.3-percent decline reported in August.

Huang Songping, a spokesperson for the customs authority said at a press briefing that the Chinese economy still faced “large downward pressure” as the global economy was only slowly recovering. Despite declines in exports and imports, the quality in China’s external trade “has improved”, he noted.

In the first three quarters of 2015, China’s exports dropped 1.8 percent in year-on-year terms while imports plunged 15.1 percent. China’s trade surplus in the first nine months amounted to 2.61 trillion yuan (US$410.99 billion), surging by 82.1 percent from a year earlier.