Gansu sees robust foreign trade growth

Northwest China's Gansu province saw its foreign trade volume rise by 0.1 percent year-on-year to 30.25 billion yuan in the first 10 months, achieving positive growth for the first time this year and showing an upward momentum. In October, the total import and export value of Gansu's foreign trade hit 3.07 billion yuan, up 22.4 percent year-on-year, according to Lanzhou Customs on Monday.

The value of imports and exports achieved positive growth for the first time this year, and import growth hit record highs in October. In the first 10 months, Gansu's foreign trade increased by 0.1 percent year-on-year, marking the first positive growth since the beginning of this year. In October, imports volume surged by 62 percent to 2.46 billion yuan, setting a new monthly record this year, up by 4.8 percentage points from the same period last month.

The import and export volume of State-owned enterprises maintained double-digit growth. In the first 10 months, the import and export volume of State-owned enterprises in Gansu province reached 19.13 billion yuan, expanding 16.3 percent year-on-year, an increase of 6.3 percentage points, and accounting for 63.2 percent of Gansu's total foreign trade. In the same period, the import and export volume of private enterprises jumped 10.74 billion yuan, accounting for 35.5 percent of Gansu's total. The import and export volume of foreign-invested enterprises reached 380 million yuan, up by 22 percent year-on-year.

The import and export value of general trade reached 20.45 billion yuan and grew 1.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 67.6 percent of Gansu's total foreign trade. Meanwhile, the value of processing trade reached 8.33 billion yuan and grew 0.8 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months, comprising 27.5 percent of the total foreign trade in the province.

The import and export value decline continued to narrow. In the first 10 months, the import and export value of the comprehensive bonded zone in Lanzhou New Area reached 1.55 billion yuan, down 17.5 percent year-on-year, while narrowing by 5.7 percentage points. In October, its import and export value totaled 150 million yuan, up 1.7 times year-on-year. Total exports - which mainly included programming controllers, flash memory and liquid crystal display panels - posted 50.27 million yuan, an increase of 5.1 times year-on-year. Total imports - which mainly encompassed capacitors, electrical equipment parts and liquid crystal display panels - reached 97.34 million yuan, an increase of 1.1 times year-on-year.

The export of distinctive agricultural products maintained increasing momentum. In the period, the export of distinctive agricultural products from Gansu reached 1.46 billion yuan, up 0.5 percent year-on-year. Among the products, vegetable exports added up to 210 million yuan, and fruit and vegetable juice exports posted 130 million yuan, increasing 1.5 percent and 87.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Imports of mechanical and electrical products and new nickel and cobalt materials kept a high upward momentum, and imports of metal ore and ore increased. In the first 10 months, the import of mechanical and electrical products reached 2.63 billion yuan, up 18.4 percent year-on-year. Among the products, the import of electrical and electronic products reached 1.71 billion yuan and the import of nickel and cobalt new materials reached 2.11 billion yuan, up 36.7 percent and 78 percent year-on-year, respectively. Meanwhile, the import of metal ore and ore reached 12.94 billion yuan, up 6.8 percent year-on-year, with copper ore and its concentrate imports totaling 9.59 billion yuan, up 8.7 percent year-on-year. The import of zinc ore and its concentrate reached 680 million yuan, up 29.9 percent year-on-year.