Foreign buyers make purchases at Yiwu International Trade Market. [Photo/Yiwu Media Center]

Yiwu's imports and exports were valued at 268.17 billion yuan ($39.08 billion) in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 33.8 percent year-on-year, according to official statistics from Yiwu Customs.

The value of exports totaled 244.44 billion yuan, rising 29.1 percent year-on-year, while imports amounted to 23.73 billion yuan, a surge of 115.4 percent.

During this period, the city imported 3.51 billion yuan in high-tech products, a year-on-year increase of 683.2 percent and accounting for 14.8 percent of the city's total import value. The city also imported 4 billion yuan in mechanical and electrical products, a year-on-year increase of 281.8 percent.

From January to July this year, Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe freight trains carried 18.16 billion yuan in imports and exports. Among them, goods worth 5.37 billion yuan were imported by the China-Europe freight trains, up 52.8 percent yearly.

The city's trade with BRI countries and regions and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership member countries became more frequent this year.

Yiwu's imports and exports to countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative increased by 19.1 percent year-on-year to 100.62 billion yuan. Foreign trade with other RCEP member countries increased by 30.7 percent year-on-year to 44.53 billion yuan.