Freight trains for export line up at Yiwu Customs. [Photo/Yiwu Media Center]

Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province, posted a 43.7 percent year-on-year increase in foreign trade in the first five months of 2022, according to the latest data from Yiwu Customs.

The total value of the city's imports and exports exceeded 183.14 billion yuan ($27.35 billion) during the period. Exports grew 39.8 percent year-on-year to 167.83 billion yuan, while imports increased 107.3 percent year-on-year to 15.31 billion yuan. The growth rates were 26.1, 18.4 and 99.3 percentage points higher than the provincial average.

From January to May this year, Yiwu exported 127.53 billion yuan in goods through market procurement trade, a year-on-year increase of 34.6 percent, accounting for 69.6 percent of the city's total exports. General trade imports and exports increased by 58.2 percent year-on-year to 47.88 billion yuan.

During this period, foreign trade between Yiwu and countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative totaled 69.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.1 percent. Imports and exports to other member countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership amounted to 31.84 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 54.2 percent.

Since the start of this year, Yiwu has made continuous breakthroughs in trade promotion and institutional innovation. In the first five months of 2022, Yiwu imported 10.19 billion yuan in consumer goods, an annual increase of 53.8 percent, accounting for 66.6 percent of the city's total import value. In the same period, imported mechanical and electrical products amounted to 3.18 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 446.1 percent. In addition, the import of high-tech products reached 2.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 781.5 percent.