BEIJING - China saw a trade deficit of US$ 1.02 billion from January to March this year, the first quarterly trade deficit in six years, according to figures released Sunday by the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

In comparison, there was a trade surplus of US$ 13.91 billion in the first quarter of last year.

China's exports increased 26.5 percent year on year to US$ 399.64 billion in the first three months this year, while imports soared 32.6 percent to 400.66 billion dollars from a year earlier, figures from the GAC showed.