Xiamen's imports and exports increase 6.9 percent year-on-year in 2019, 3.5 percentage points higher than the national average. [Photo/VCG]

Xiamen's imports and exports increased 6.9 percent year-on-year in 2019, 3.5 percentage points higher than the national average, statistics from Xiamen Customs showed.

The city in East China's Fujian province reported that the total value of foreign trade hit 641.29 billion yuan ($93.48 billion) last year, accounting for 48.2 percent of total trade in Fujian.

Exports expanded by 5.7 percent year-on-year to 352.876 billion yuan, while imports jumped 8.3 percent to 288.42 billion yuan, accounting for 42.6 percent and 57.4 percent of the total in Fujian respectively.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the European Union and the United States were Xiamen's three major foreign trading partners in 2019, with total import and export values of 109.47 billion yuan, 89.24 billion yuan, and 85.26 billion yuan respectively.

Trade with the three blocs accounted for 44.3 percent of the total import and export value over the same period in the city.

Meanwhile, Xiamen's foreign trade with Australia posted the fastest growth, with a 41.7 percent year-on-year increase to 44.92 billion yuan.

In 2019 the city's trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative surged 14.4 percent to 202.19 billion yuan. The Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia were its top three export destinations, while Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam were its three largest import sources.

Mechanical and electrical products were the city's most exported items in 2019, when the city exported 169.25 billion yuan worth of such products for a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent, accounting for 48 percent of its total export value.