Xiamen Port in East China's Fujian province [Photo/xmnn.cn] 

The coastal city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province witnessed strong growth in foreign trade with its 223 foreign trade partners last year, according to statistics released by the city's customs and commerce authorities.

Data show that the city's foreign trade expanded 7.8 percent year-on-year to 691.58 billion yuan ($106.92 billion) in 2020, the highest in history.

The city's exports grew 1.2 percent year-on-year to 357.29 billion yuan last year, while its imports surged 16 percent year-on-year to 334.29 billion yuan, both of which were record highs and accounted for 49.3 percent of the province's total foreign trade.

Private enterprises in the city recorded a total of 235.44 billion yuan in foreign trade, growing 5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 34 percent of Xiamen's total foreign trade.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the United States, and the European Union were the city's largest trade partners. Trade with ASEAN jumped 18.6 percent year-on-year to nearly 130 billion yuan last year, while trade with Belt and Road countries rose 13.2 percent to over 229 billion yuan in 2020.

Exports of epidemic prevention and control materials hit 19.42 billion yuan in 2020, a remarkable growth of 375.7 percent year-on-year, 28.5 percentage points higher than the national average.

Additionally, cross-border e-commerce in Xiamen maintained rapid growth last year, with total retail sales surpassing 2.55 billion yuan, a four-fold year-on-year increase.