Containers await shipping at a port in Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Fujian province's foreign trade volume reached 433.08 billion yuan ($66.07 billion) in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 12.1 percent year-on-year, according to statistics from Fuzhou Customs.

Of that, exports reached 262.43 billion yuan, an increase of 14.3 percent, and the imports amounted to 170.65 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent.

Fujian's import and export of general trade grew 8 percent year-on-year to 322.53 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, accounting for 74.5 percent of the province's total, while that of processing trade grew 21.3 percent to 62.32 billion yuan.

Statistics showed that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United States, and the European Union were Fujian's major trade partners in the first quarter of this year. Their import and export volumes with Xiamen grew 19.5 percent, 16.6 percent, and 26.3 percent to 88.65 billion yuan, 60.76 billion yuan and 53.7 billion yuan, respectively.

In addition, Fujian's trade with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative soared 20.9 percent year-on-year to 154.98 billion yuan during the same period.

The province's private sector soared 12.4 percent year-on-year to 232.42 billion yuan in imports and exports volume in the first quarter of this year, which accounted for 53.7 percent of the province's total.

Mechanical and electrical products, labor-intensive products such as textiles and garments, and agricultural products were the major exports, generating 97.72 billion yuan, 81.99 billion yuan, and 20.18 billion yuan, respectively, which accounted for 37.2 percent, 31.2 percent, and 28.4 percent of the province's total.

In terms of imports in the first three months, agricultural products accounted for 14.4 percent of the total imports at 24.65 billion yuan, of which, the imports of foodstuff surged 36.4 percent to 9.1 billion yuan.