SHENZHEN’S foreign trade reached 2.8 trillion yuan (US$438 billion) in 2017, a 6.5 percent year-on-year increase, statistics from Shenzhen Customs showed Monday.

The volume accounted for 10.1 percent of the nation’s total, customs said. The export volume increased by 5.5 percent to 1.65 trillion yuan and accounted for 10.8 percent of the nation’s total, ranking first among Chinese cities for 25 straight years.

The trade volume between Shenzhen and the United States, the European Union, South Korea and Australia increased by more than 10 percent. Under the Belt and Road Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping, Shenzhen is expanding trade with emerging markets. The city’s trade volume with countries along the Belt and Road reached 542.28 billion yuan, an increase of 16.4 percent. Specifically, exports reached 307.7 billion yuan, an increase of 13.2 percent. Exports to ASEAN countries increased by 19.2 percent.

Mechanical and electronic products are still the major exported products. The city exported 1.25 trillion yuan worth of mechanical and electronic products, accounting for 75.8 percent of the total. Exports of mobile phones, laptops and panel computers dropped slightly, but traditional labor-intensive products recovered with an 11.9-percent increase, especially toys and jewelry products, which saw drastic growth.

As for imports, 394 billion yuan in integrated circuits was imported and imports of medical equipment and apparatus, as well as medicines, maintained increases of 16.6 percent and 23 percent, respectively. Food imports increased by 22.9 percent, while the import of fresh and dried fruits dropped by 4.6 percent.

In 2017, Shenzhen Customs simplified import and export procedures, and cut the time of cargo customs clearance by one-third. Trade volume maintained good momentum, increasing quarter by quarter in 2017. The pace of growth in the second half of the year was faster than the first six months, as Shenzhen diversified its trading partners.

(Han Ximin)