BEIJING, Mar. 4 -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, announced on Wednesday that it would further expand trial cross-border yuan trade settlements across the country this year.

The market demand for yuan cross-border use is expected to climb, along with the increasingly close integration between China and the global economy, according to a statement on the central bank's website.

China has been expanding pilot programs for cross-border trade yuan settlement since last year. The PBOC has expanded the trial scheme to 20 provincial regions so far.

China expanded its cross-border yuan trade settlement to about 67,000 exporters at the end of last year, from the original 365 firms. China's banks handled 506.3 billion yuan (8.57 billion U.S. dollars) of cross-border trade settlements last year.