Ningbo's foreign trade is valued at 889.56 billion yuan ($136.85 billion) from January to November. [Photo/chinnews.com]

From January to November, Ningbo's foreign trade was valued at 889.56 billion yuan ($136.85 billion), up by 7.1 percent year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points faster than the first three quarters, official data show.

Specifically, the city's imports stood at 308.31 billion yuan over the 11-month period, rising by 6.7 percent, while exports stood at 581.25 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2 percent, according to Ningbo Customs.

The export volume accounted for 3.6 percent of the nation's total.

In November alone, the city's foreign trade value stood at 91.05 billion yuan, representing a yearly uptick of 22.1 percent. 

Ningbo-based NingShing Ubay International Trade Co Ltd saw sharp increases in both its import and export volume this year.

Shi Wei, general manager of the company, attributed the robust growth to booming cross-border e-commerce, as more foreign consumers are purchasing goods online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first 11 months, exports to overseas warehouses via cross-border e-commerce platforms in Ningbo totaled 790 million yuan, while goods worth 8.88 million yuan were exported via the cross-border e-commerce B2B model.

The private sector takes up the lion's share of the city's foreign trade, with imports and exports by private companies surging 13.2 percent to 634.69 billion yuan, accounting for 71.3 percent of the city's total over the period.