Hangzhou's foreign trade remains steady in 2018: report

Other than foreign trade in traditional commodities, Hangzhou has also strived to build up its core competitiveness by pushing ahead with the innovative development of service trade. From January to November last year, Hangzhou’s service trade totaled $32.58 billion in import and export, up 133.38 percent year on year, among which the exports rose 21.32 percent to $6.43 billion and imports rose a whopping 201.96 percent to $26.15 billion.

In 2018, trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached around 157.6 billion yuan, a year on year increase of 5.7 percent, accounting for 30 percent of Hangzhou's total.

Emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America and Africa are major trading partners of Hangzhou with a surge of 10.2 percent growth in imports and export to 135.3 billion yuan, accounting for 25.8 percent of the city's total trade volume.

In terms of exports, mechanical and electrical products and hi-tech products dominate, with a yearly growth of 0.4 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the privately-owned enterprises also act as a driving force in Hangzhou's foreign trade with 316.1 billion yuan in imports and exports, accounting for 60.3 percent of the total.