BEIJING - China's import tariff reductions since the country's World Trade Organization (WTO) accession a decade ago have amounted to 57.07 billion yuan ($9 billion) by the end of October, the country's customs authority told Xinhua on Friday.

In the first 10 months of this year, tariff reductions under a slew of preferential trade arrangements amounted to 18.51 billion yuan, the country's General Administration of Customs said.

After China became an official member of the WTO in December 2001, the general level of the country's import tariffs lowered 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent in 2010.

It has established 16 free trade areas with 29 countries or areas, and carried out 10 free trade agreements and three preferential trade arrangements.