China has continued to increase the amount of products it imports from the US as the deadline for a previously-agreed trade target nears, though the country is still set to be short of its goals.

The value of goods moving from the US to China reached a new monthly high of $9.9 billion in September, driven by larger purchases of soybeans, oil and automobiles, Bloomberg reports.

However, this still leaves trade volumes for the year far short of its goal. The new provider's calculations found China's purchases so far in 2020 have only amounted to 38.5 per cent of the more than $170 billion worth of goods the nation had committed to buying from the US.

Under the terms of the Phase One trade agreement signed between the US and China in January, China had pledged to buy an additional $200 billion of US goods and services over its 2017 level by the end of 2021.

With trade volumes and economies around the world hit by the coronavirus pandemic, these plans have been affected. However, China's economy is on the way to recovery, with imports accelerating.

Chinese purchases of US energy goods grew by around 75 per cent in September compared with the previous month, which Bloomberg suggested could reflect rising demand for cheaper oil and supplies for heating as winter approaches.