The foreign trade value of North China's Shanxi province in January and February reached 32.85 billion yuan ($5.05 billion), representing a year-on-year growth of 109.1 percent, according to an announcement from Taiyuan Customs on March 16. 

The exports amounted to 19.85 billion yuan, up 120.1 percent year-on-year, while the imports reached 13 billion yuan, up 94.2 percent year-on-year. 

During the period, the import–export total of the processing trade was 20.77 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 183.1 percent and accounting for 63.2 percent of the province's total foreign trade value. 

The imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises in Shanxi totaled 20.97 billion yuan over the past two months, a year-on-year increase of 175.9 percent and accounting for 63.8 percent of the province's total foreign trade value. The foreign trade value of State-owned enterprises was 6.04 billion yuan, up 25.4 percent year-on-year, while the imports and exports of private enterprises totaled 5.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76.4 percent. 

Among the major export commodities, the export value of mobile phones and steel products accounted for 74.3 percent of Shanxi's total export value in January and February. As for major imported goods, imports of high-tech products reached 6.07 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 186.9 percent. 

In the first two months of 2021, Shanxi doubled its imports and exports to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the United States and ASEAN, and increased its imports and exports to the European Union and BRICS countries. 

The province's imports and exports to the US totaled 6.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 140 percent; imports and exports to ASEAN totaled 3.76 billion yuan, up 138.7 percent year-on-year; and imports and exports to countries involved in the BRI totaled 8.46 billion yuan, increasing 136.2 percent year-on-year.