Shanghai January-April foreign trade up 18.3% to RMB1.22 trillion

Aerial photo taken on March 9, 2017 shows the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Shanghai saw its foreign trade rise 18.3 percent year on year to 1.22 trillion yuan in the first four months of this year, reported Jiefang Daily on Tuesday quoting data from Shanghai customs authority.

Of the total, Shanghai's exports amounted to 458.1 billion yuan, up 10.6 percent year on year, and the total imports picked up 23.4 percent year on year to 763.3 billion yuan.

During the January-April period, mechanical and electrical products were the main export products of Shanghai, with export value reaching 315.23 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 70 percent of Shanghai's total export value.

Exports of laptops and automobiles posted robust growth. In the first four months, laptop exports registered a 68.7 percent year-on-year increase to 29.96 billion yuan, and automobile exports surged 177.4 percent year on year to 12.44 billion yuan.

From January to April, Shanghai's major import products were high-tech products, bulk commodities, automobiles and apparel. During the period, Shanghai imported 227.42 billion yuan of high-tech products, showing a year-on-year increase of 11.8 percent and accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total imports.

In the first four months, the European Union (EU) remained the largest trading partner of Shanghai, with total trade with the EU hitting 248.3 billion yuan, accounting for 20.3 percent of the city's total imports and exports. Following the EU, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United States and Japan were major trading partners of Shanghai during the period.