Photo taken on May 1, 2022 shows a container vessel docking at the Qianwan Container Terminal in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

China is confident to keep its foreign trade running within a reasonable range for the whole year, making more contributions to the economic fundamentals, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Thursday.

The country's total imports and exports went up 9.6 percent year on year last month on top of April's 0.1-percent expansion, gaining recovery momentum.

"The rebound came as work resumption of foreign trade enterprises was put forward in order and pro-growth measures started taking effect," said the MOC spokesperson Shu Jueting, at a press conference.

Noting that uncertainties such as the fragile world economic recovery and problems related to costs, supply chains, and logistics still exist, Shu said that effective coordination of epidemic control, economic and social development, and supporting measures will help with propelling the foreign trade growth.

Tax reduction and trade facilitation brought by free trade agreements will play an important role in promoting foreign trade, said Shu, adding that China has an increasing amount of free trade agreement partners.