BEIJING -- For the first time in a year, China recorded a trade deficit of $31.48 billion in February, as import growth far outpaced exports.

Exports rose 18.4 percent from a year earlier to $114.47 billion in February, while imports were up 39.6 percent to $145.96 billion, customs data showed Saturday.

The fast trade expansion was fueled by the lower comparative base for last February, when the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday cut working days from the month and skewed trade data, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said. The week-long holiday fell in January this year.

After seasonal adjustments, the annual growth of exports slowed to 4 percent in February while that of imports was cut down to 9.4 percent.

Exports this January fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier, the worst slowing in more than two years, and imports fell even more sharply, plunging 15.3 percent.

The country's foreign trade rose 7.3 percent year-on-year to $533.03 billion in the first two months, with a combined trade deficit of $4.25 billion, the GAC said.

China's trade with the European Union, its largest trade partner, grew 4.7 percent year-on-year in the January-February period to $79.8 billion. However, China's sales to the Eurozone slid 1.1 percent in the first two months year-on-year.

In February, the United States, the nation's second-largest trade partner, replaced the EU as China's largest export market, as monthly sales to the US outnumbered that to the EU.

China's trade with the US gained 9.2 percent year-on-year to $66.05 billion.