Jinhua in East China's Zhejiang province saw a rise in foreign trade as its imports and exports grew 11.3 percent year-on-year to 170.82 billion yuan ($24.69 billion) in the first quarter, according to statistics from Jinhua Customs.
Specifically, its exports totaled 146.46 billion yuan, while its import volume amounted to 24.36 billion yuan.
The city's top three trading partners during the three months were Africa, the Middle East, and the Latin America. Its exports to these economies were valued at 22.19 billion yuan, 20.47 billion yuan, and 18.7s billion yuan respectively.
Jinhua's exports to the United States amounted to 19.25 billion yuan, down 12.2 percent year-on-year, while its exports to the European Union were valued at 23.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.9 percent.
Exports of mechanical and electrical products, clothing and plastic products stood at 63.19 billion yuan, 13.05 billion yuan, and 12.55 billion yuan respectively, up 3.6 percent, 6.1 percent, 15.6 percent year-on-year.
Significant growth was seen in the imports of energy and resource products in the first quarter, during which imports of copper materials, agricultural products, mechanical and electrical products, as well as personal care products were worth 10.74 billion yuan, 6.17 billion yuan, 1.63 billion yuan, and 1.61 billion yuan respectively.
Private enterprises were significant contributors to the growth, and their foreign trade volume accounted for 98.5 percent of the city's total.
