Economists had forecast an eight-percent fall for exports in December and an 11-percent decline for imports.

Despite a tough situation, positive signs emerged for foreign trade in 2015. General trade saw a bigger share of the economy at 54 percent and progress was also made in China's efforts to diversify its trade partners, Huang said.

Last year, trade with the United States, the second-biggest trade partner, rose to 3.47 trillion yuan in 2015 from 3.41 trillion yuan the previous year.

Meanwhile, trade with emerging markets including India and ASEAN were better in overall performance in 2015, Huang said, adding that trade with India increased 2.5 percent year on year.

The increases were not made without cost, though. In 2015, trade with the European Union, the country's biggest trade partner, and ASEAN, the third-largest partner, edged down to 3.51 trillion yuan and 2.93 trillion yuan, respectively, from 3.78 trillion yuan and 2.95 trillion yuan in 2014.

Private firms pocketed 9.1 trillion yuan or 37 percent of the total foreign trade volume last year, 2.5 percentage points more than the previous year.

Huang also highlighted the structural optimization of exports. During the past year, China's export of mechanical and electrical products grew 1.2 percent year on year to 8.15 trillion yuan, accounting for 57.7 percent of the total exports of the year, 1.7 percentage points more than 2014.

In contrast, exports of seven traditional labor-intensive products including clothing and shoes fell 1.7 percent to 2.93 trillion yuan, accounting for 20.7 percent of the total exports in 2015.

China's trade has improved during the past year due to low commodity prices as the country imported more iron ore and crude oil products, according to Huang.