The total value of imports and exports of Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region hit a new high in November, rising 48 percent from October to 16.03 billion yuan ($2.52 billion), data released by the local customs authorities showed, despite some foreign countries’ unreasonable bans on products originating there.
According to Urumqi Customs, between January and November, Xinjiang’s foreign trade stood at 137.66 billion yuan, equal to 93 percent of last year’s total, recording a slight decline of 1.3 percent compared with the same period last year.
Data showed that in the first 11 months this year, Xinjiang’s imports and exports to countries participating the Belt and Road Initiative reached 119.81 billion yuan, an increase of 3.6 percent, accounting for 87 percent of the total value of foreign trade in the region, an increase of 4.2 percentage points over the same period last year. Among them, Kazakhstan remained the region’s largest trading partner, with imports and exports totaling 62.33 billion yuan.
According to the customs, Xinjiang recorded around 261.8 billion yuan in foreign trade with the European Union (EU) economies in the first 11 months this year, up 30 percent year-on-year, with the exports hitting 197.9 billion yuan, up 27.7 percent year on year, while imports rose by 37.6 percent to reach 63.9 billion yuan.
Sun Tao, deputy director of the statistics and analysis from the department of the customs, attributed the robust growth to the booming China-Europe freight train services via Xinjiang, the trade growth of mechanical and electrical products and the surge in the export of clean energy equipment and products.
From January to November, a total of 11,156 China-Europe freight train trips were recorded by land ports in Xinjiang, a year-on-year increase of 26.8 percent. The total freight volume hit 1.1 million tons, up 30.2 percent compared with the same period last year. Data revealed significant increases in trade with Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, France and Hungary.
“During the period, the exports of raw plastics, electric vehicles and polysilicon have doubled. Among exported labor-intensive products, plastic products, shoes and furniture have seen significant growth,” Sun said.
Workers are busy at the factory of Zhuolang Intelligent Machinery Co., Ltd. in Urumqi, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 22, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)
