China's Gansu sees foreign trade up 21.7 pct in Q1

Northwest China's Gansu Province saw foreign trade grow 21.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of this year, local customs said.

The province's import and export value hit 16.6 billion yuan (about 2.6 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, said Lanzhou Customs in the provincial capital.

Of the total, exports rose 51.1 percent year on year to 3.1 billion yuan, while imports increased 16.4 percent to 13.5 billion yuan.

During the period, the three major trading partners of Gansu were Kazakhstan, the European Union, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The import and export value reached nearly 4.4 billion yuan, 1.3 billion yuan, and 1 billion yuan, respectively, in Q1.

The province's exports of characteristic agricultural products increased significantly, with export volumes of seeds and fresh apples totaling 320 million yuan together, while mineral products and mechanical and electrical products were the main imported items.