The figure was more than double the 4.6 percent predicted in a Bloomberg survey.

However, imports during the same period fell 4.3 percent, Beijing's General Administration of Customs said.

China's top leaders last month set an ambitious annual growth target of around five percent, vowing to make domestic demand its main economic driver.

The world's second-largest economy continues to struggle with sluggish consumption and a prolonged debt crisis in its property sector.

And that fragile recovery faces fresh headwinds from a trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump.