HAIKOU /China/, April 17. /TASS/. The overall foreign trade volume of the southern Chinese province of Hainan in the first quarter of 2024 reached 64.23 billion yuan ($9.04 billion), up 11.3% year-on-year, the Haikou Daily newspaper reported with reference to data released by the Haikou City Customs Office.
According to the paper, the province’s volume of exports and imports in the first quarter exceeded 60 billion yuan ($8.4 billion) for the first time. The growth rate of the province’s foreign trade turnover in the first quarter outpaced the overall growth rate of this indicator for the country by 6.3 percentage points.
Hainan’s exports amounted to 22 billion yuan ($3.09 billion) over the period, an increase of 22.8%. The corresponding figure is 17.9 percentage points higher than in the country as a whole. As for imports, they increased by 6.1% to 42.23 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) – 1.1 percentage points above the average for China as a whole.
Hainan’s largest trading partners in the first quarter were the One Belt, One Road initiative countries. The province’s foreign trade with them grew 28.5% to 34.12 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) – 53.1% of Hainan’s total exports and imports. The province’s trade turnover with ASEAN countries stood at about 10.7 billion yuan ($1.5 billion). The figure rose 33.5%.
By the end of the first quarter, Hainan had more than 1,200 companies engaged in exports and imports, customs said. Their number increased by 29.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the foreign trade volume of private enterprises rose 20.8% to 38.2 billion yuan ($5.3 billion) during the period.
Overall, the government was noted to continue optimizing the province’s foreign trade structure in the first quarter of 2024, as well as maintaining high rates of exports and imports of electrical and mechanical products, raw materials and consumer goods.