This undated photo shows a view of Nansha Port in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong province. (GUANGZHOU PORT AUTHORITY / XINHUA)

BEIJING – China's ports saw a slight expansion of cargo throughput in the first four months of the year despite COVID-19 disruptions, official data showed.

Cargo throughput at the country's ports neared 4.91 billion tons in the period, edging up 0.2 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

During the January-April period, the container handling volume at China's ports rose 1.7 percent from a year ago to 91.04 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the data showed.

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In April alone, China's ports handled more than 1.27 billion tons of cargo, while container throughput stood at 23.66 million TEUs, according to the ministry.