Foreign trade in Fujian province expand 6.8 percent year-on-year to 635.74 billion yuan in the first half of this year. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The import and export volume in Fujian province expanded 6.8 percent year-on-year to 635.74 billion yuan ($94.88 billion) in the first half of this year, according to statistics from Fuzhou Customs.

The figure was 2.9 percentage points faster than the national average growth rate over the six-month period.

The exports grew 11.9 percent to 405.93 billion yuan while the imports saw a slide of 1.4 percent to 29.81 billion yuan.

The structure of trade continued to improve with the rapid expansion of general trade.

The province's general trade imports and exports increased 8.9 percent to 472.92 billion yuan from January to June, accounting for 74.4 percent of the total in the province, 1.4 percentage points higher than last year.

The role of the private sector in foreign trade is on an upward trajectory in Quanzhou.

In the first six months of this year, imports and exports among private businesses in Fujian expanded 14.2 percent to 319.37 billion yuan, accounting for 50.2 percent of the total recorded in the province.

Meanwhile, the trade volume of State-owned enterprises in the province reached 107.3 billion yuan, registering a yearly uptick of 6.7 percent.

Fujian embraced a more diversified market and its trade with ASEAN and the European Union showed strong growth.

The trade with ASEAN stood at 117.76 billion yuan, up by 15.1 percent while the number with the EU was 92.23 billion yuan, a rise of 12.5 percent.

Meanwhile, trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative increased 13.6 percent to 220.21 billion yuan, accounting for 34.6 percent of its total.

Besides, it maintained a double-digit growth of trade with the emerging markets in Latin America and Africa, up 15.7 percent and 20.6 percent respectively.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products continued to grow, while the import demand for agricultural products and consumer goods also remained strong.

In the first half of the year, Fujian exported 149.85 billion yuan worth of labor-intensive products including textile, clothing, footwear, luggage, furniture, toys, and plastic products, up 16.4 percent, accounting for 36.9 percent of the total export value recorded in the province in the period.

The export of mechanical and electrical products reached 147.9 billion yuan, up 13.3 percent.

Over the same period, it imported 28.014 million tons of iron ore and 22.029 million metric tons of coal, increases of 2.3 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.

Imports of crude oil totaled 6.474 million tons, up 23.2 percent while the number for manganese ore was 1.779 million tons, up 80.4 percent.