Xiamen's foreign trade hits record high in July

According to Xiamen Customs, the city's imports and exports in July totaled 81.29 billion yuan ($12.54 billion), up 30.1 percent year-on-year.

This is the first time the city's monthly imports and exports have exceeded 80 billion yuan.

In July, the city's imports hit 43.78 billion yuan, an increase of 50.9 percent year-on-year, while exports reached 37.51 billion yuan, a 12.1 percent year-on-year rise.

Statistics from January to July showed that the imports and exports of Xiamen jumped 31.9 percent from the previous year to 489.67 billion yuan. Specifically, imports reached 253.33 billion yuan and exports hit 236.34 billion yuan, growing 39.1 percent and 25 percent year-on-year respectively.

Statistics also showed that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United States and the European Union are the city's top three trading partners, accounting for 41.9 percent of the city's total foreign trade value in the January-July period.

During the same period, the city's trade with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership member countries reached 171.51 billion yuan, up by 24.6 percent. Trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 155.77 billion yuan, up by 32.3 percent. Trade with BRICS countries－Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa－grew 27.5 percent to 39.41 billion yuan.

The city mainly exported mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products, which accounted for 44.7 percent and 27.8 percent of the city's total exports in the first seven months respectively.

Imports of mechanical and electrical products and agricultural products respectively took up 21.4 percent and 17.3 percent of the city's total imports in the same period.