The total value of foreign trade in East China's Fujian province increases 37.7 percent year-on-year in the first two months of the year to 244.73 billion yuan ($37.67 billion). [Photo/xmnn.cn]

The total value of foreign trade in East China's Fujian province increased 37.7 percent year-on-year in the first two months to 244.73 billion yuan ($37.67 billion), according to statistics released by Fuzhou Customs.

The province's exports were valued at 149.84 billion yuan in the January to February period, up 49.6 percent year-on-year, while its imports increased 22.3 percent year-on-year to 94.89 billion yuan.

Fujian's general trade imports and exports increased substantially, while processing trade also began picking up. The former reported a total value of 189.1 billion yuan, growing by 41.8 percent year-on-year and accounting for 77.3 percent of the province's total, while the latter rose 26.4 percent year-on-year to 32.44 billion yuan after a double-digit decline in 2020.

The private sector, which already makes up the bulk of Fujian's foreign trade, continued to play a bigger role by bringing in 131.54 billion yuan in foreign trade in the first two months, up 67.6 percent year-on-year and accounting for 53.7 percent of the province's total imports and exports.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remained Fujian's largest trade partner from January to February, followed by the Unites States and the European Union.

The province saw robust growth in trade with ASEAN in the first two months as it rose by 44.2 percent from the same period last year to 46.71 billion yuan.