Beijing's foreign trade up 8.7% in Q1

Beijing saw its foreign trade rise 8.7 percent year on year to 677.37 billion yuan (104.45 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of the year, customs data showed on Monday.

In the first quarter, Beijing's imports rose 9 percent year-on-year to 548.36 billion yuan and exports climbed to approximately 129 billion yuan, up 7.2 percent over the same period last year.

Imports of agricultural products, iron ore and copper concentrates registered strong performances. Imports of agricultural products topped 56 billion yuan, up 86.1 percent year on year.

Exports of mobile phones and automobile parts posted robust growth, with mobile phone exports registering a 92 percent year-on-year increase to over 19.5 billion yuan.

In the first three months, Beijing's five major trading partners were the European Union, the United States, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Australia and Saudi Arabia.