China's agricultural products exports in the first 11 months of the year reached 20.37 billion US dollars, up 10 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday.

A spokesman for the ministry said the total exports may rise to 22.5 billion US dollars for the whole year.

The growth was ascribed mainly to the large margin growth of exports of horticulture, livestock and birds and aquatic products, noted the spokesman. The exports of horticultural products grew 25.7 percent, the exports of livestock and birds 18.7 percent and the exports of aquatic products 19.5 percent.

The total value of exports for the three category of products added up to 12.17 billion US dollars, or 67.7 percent of all agricultural products exports.

The price of many farm produces this year has been higher than normal years, contributing the growth of exports, added the spokesman.

In addition, higher quality of products has helped clear the technical barrier for China's exports of agricultural products to a number of markets.

The European Union lifted its ban on imported Chinese animal products, excluding birds. The Middle East countries restored importing China's live sheep and cattle after an eight-year ban. Chinese-grown apple for the first time entered the Latin American market in 2004.

The foreign-invested firms and non-state-owned companies took the lion's share of export growth. The foreign-invested firms have replaced state-owned enterprises as the largest exporter of agricultural products in China, accounting for 43 percent of all agricultural exports.