South China's Guangdong Province saw its trade with ASEAN countries grow by 7.7 percent year on year in the first quarter, while its total foreign trade volume dropped due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The customs office of Guangdong said that the province's total trade volume in the first three month of this year dropped 11.8 percent year on year to 1.37 trillion yuan (193 billion U.S. dollars), with exports down 14.4 percent and imports down 7.8 percent year on year.

The ASEAN became Guangdong's biggest trade parter in the quarter, with trade volume accounting for 16 percent of the province's total trade.

According to the customs office, foreign trade in Guangdong is slowly getting better in March as the COVID-19 epidemic wanes in the country.