From January to February this year, Xiamen's foreign trade volume reached 148.23 billion yuan ($21.51 billion), up 9.2 percent year-on-year.

During the same period, foreign trade in Xiamen's private sector hit 64.64 billion yuan, an increase of 18.9 percent, and accounted for 43.6 percent of the city's total foreign trade value. Foreign trade value of the city's State-owned and foreign-invested enterprises accounted for 36.7 percent and 19.7 percent of the total.

At the same time, Xiamen exported 35.27 billion yuan of electromechanical products, an increase of 8.3 percent, accounting for 52.2 percent of the total export volume, and metal ore imports reached 18.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.5 percent, accounting for 22.7 percent of the total import volume.

During the two months, the city's trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members and European Union (EU) members amounted to 27.52 billion yuan and 21.4 billion yuan, respectively, a year-on-year increase of 20.1 percent and 16.5 percent.

Xiamen also imported a total of 11.29 billion yuan of goods from other BRICS countries and exported 4.78 billion yuan of goods to them, up 68.5 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, year-on-year. Among the imports, coal and agricultural products increased by 610.2 percent and 172.9 percent, respectively, and car exports doubled.

An aerial view of Xiamen Port. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]