China's foreign trade volume contracted by 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter to $904 billion, heightening concerns over the nation's economic growth.

Exports dropped by 15 percent last month from the same period a year earlier to $144.6 billion, while imports fell by 12.7 percent to $141.5 billion, according to the General Administration of Customs on Monday.

Huang Songping, spokesman for the administration, said the figures fell far short of the annual trade growth target of 6 percent this year.