Foreign trade in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province increased by 63.9 percent year-on-year to 106.29 billion yuan ($16.58 billion) from January to March 2022, according to data from local customs.

The amount of foreign trade accounts for 9.9 percent of the total import and export value of Zhejiang province, which increased by 2.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

In the first three months of this year, Yiwu's total exports increased by 57.1 percent year-on-year to 96.47 billion yuan, accounting for 12.3 percent of the province's total. Imports were up 184 percent year-on-year, reaching 9.82 billion yuan and accounting for 3.4 percent of the province's total.

From January to March this year, Yiwu exported 74.19 billion yuan of goods through market procurement trade, a year-on-year increase of 54.1 percent and accounting for 76.9 percent of the city's total export value, driving the city's export growth by 42.4 percentage points. The general trade imports and exports increased by 64 percent year-on-year to reach 24.79 billion yuan.

In addition, goods worth 7.38 billion yuan were transported via the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe cargo train, marking a year-on-year increase of 4.9 percent.

In the first three months of 2022, foreign trade between Yiwu and countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative totaled 41.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52.6 percent.

Mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products were once again the top two categories exported by local companies, amounting to 38.96 billion yuan and 36.21 billion yuan respectively.