Hubei’s foreign trade maintained robust and stable growth in the first three quarters of this year, outperforming the pre-epidemic level in 2019, local government reported on Oct. 14.
Hubei’s total imports and exports expanded 31.9 percent year on year to 383.97 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2021, a 39.5-percent increase from the same period of 2019, according to Wuhan Customs.
The exports and imports stood at 243.18 billion yuan and 140.79 billion yuan, respectively. And the growth rate of imports and exports ranked tenth in the country with 9.2 percentage points higher than the national level.
Processing trade maintained sound development during the nine months, contributing to an import and export value of 48.67 billion yuan; the imports and exports of bonded logistics doubled to 34.35 billion yuan; the exports in terms of market procurement witnessed a 2.5-fold increase.
In the January-September period, Hubei’s trade value with its top four trading partners -- the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United States, the European Union and Japan -- respectively reached 52.1 billion yuan, 51.64 billion yuan, 50.41 billion yuan and 31 billion yuan.
During the period, the growth rates of the province’s imports and exports with emerging markets such as Latin America and Africa registered 39.2 and 24.5 percentage points higher than the provincial level.
The imports and exports of Hubei’s capital city Wuhan accounted for more than 60 percent of the province’s total, backed by its steady economic development. The growth rates of other cities in the province, such as Shiyan, Yichang, Xiaogan and Huanggang, all outnumbered the provincial level a lot. (en.hubei.gov.cn by Ruan Xinqi)