A bird-eye's view of Xiamen, a port city in Fujian province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Xiamen in East China's Fujian province recorded 641.3 billion yuan ($92.34 billion) in imports and exports trade in 2019, growing by 6.9 percent year-on-year and 3.5 percentage points higher than the national average, local customs authorities said Jan 16.

Statistics showed that Xiamen's exports totaled 352.9 billion yuan, up 5.7 percent, while imports increased by 8.3 percent to 288.4 billion yuan, and export and import volume accounted for 48.2 percent of Fujian's total amount.

The city's general foreign trade rose by 10.4 percent year-on-year to 424.5 billion yuan in 2019, accounting for 66.2 percent of Fujian's total amount. Import and export of processing trade was 116.6 billion yuan, down 12.8 percent year-on-year, while bonded logistics saw strong momentum in imports and exports, rising by 21.1 percent year-on-year to 97.2 billion yuan in 2019.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was Xiamen's largest trade partner last year, followed by the European Union (EU) and the Unites States.

The city saw robust growth in its foreign trade with ASEAN countries and regions last year, with the volume rising by 11.3 percent year-on-year to 109.5 billion yuan, while foreign trade with the EU and the US were 89.2 billion yuan and 85.3 billion yuan.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled 169.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 3.9 percent and accounting for nearly half of the city's total exports.

The city's labor-intensive products, including textiles and garments, shoes, toys, bags and suitcases, plastic products and furniture grew by 12.2 percent year-on-year to 119 billion yuan.

Xiamen maintained steady growth in its foreign trade with countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with the total value growing by 14.4 percent to 202.2 billion yuan.

The city has further optimized its foreign trade structure, with high-tech products posting steady growth last year, and exports of spinning machines and parts, and spare parts for automatic data processing equipment also recording high growth.

In 2019, Xiamen exported 1.58 million metric tons of granite stone materials and products, the highest across the country, and 650 million light-emitting diodes were exported to other countries, ranking second in the country.