MANILA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- China currently serves as a top export market destination for the Philippines, valued at nearly 940 million U.S. dollars or 15.3 percent of the latter's total exports in August, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has said.

According to the trade data released on Wednesday by PSA, China ranked first for the Philippines with exports valued at 939.98 million U.S. dollars of the total exports for August 2018, increasing by 34.4 percent from 699.5 million U.S. dollars value posted in August 2017.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday that it will participate in the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in November in Shanghai, China.

As the Philippines' main export and investment promotion agency, the DTI said in a statement that it has organized the Philippines' participation in the expo to further penetrate the huge Chinese market through country participation in trade expositions and facilitation of its business-to-business linkages.

Philippine Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez will lead the country's CIIE participation this year, along with DTI Trade and Investments Promotions Group (TIPG) Undersecretary Nora Terrado.

"China is a priority market for the Philippines and we want to push for exports of our products and services. We are also keen on attracting Chinese investments," Lopez said.