Official data from China's Ministry of Commerce indicates that the country's export volume increased at a faster clip this year than that of other major economies, giving the Middle Kingdom an 11.1% share of global trade.

Caixin reports that data released by China's Ministry of Commerce on 26 December shows that for the first three quarters of 2012 total global exports were around USD13.5 trillion, declining 0.2% compared to the same period last year.

Chinese exports grew 7.4%, however, and now comprise 11.1% of the global export market.

According to statistics from China's General Administration of Customs the Middle Kingdom's total exports for the first eleven months of the year were worth USD1.85 trillion, rising 7.3% compared to the same period the year previously. During the same period total imports gained 5.8%.

Most edifying for China's key policy-makers was a decline in "liang gao yi zi" exports – or resources whose extraction is costly and environmentally hazardous, and whose overseas sale the government has long sought to curb.

Exports of fossil fuels, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, steel and chemical products fell 5.0% year-on-year for the period from January to October of 2012.