Nanyang's foreign trade numbers strong in Q1

The total value of Nanyang's foreign trade increased by 36.9 percent to 3.56 billion yuan ($562 million) in the first quarter of this year. Most notably, the export value was up 50.3 percent, reaching 2.89 billion yuan and ranking third in Henan province.

Private enterprises were the major driver of this growth with a trade value of 2.89 billion yuan, making up 81.2 percent of the total trade value, and representing a year-on-year increase of 47.2 percent. State-owned enterprises came in second place, making up 12 percent of total trade.

General trade, which has a higher added-value than processing trade, has increased in both value and proportion, expanding to 3.24 billion yuan in the first three months of the year and accounting for 91.2 percent of total foreign trade.

Agricultural products remained a crucial export, with their export value rising by 82.9 percent to 1.93 billion yuan. The next three most valuable exports were hi-tech products, electromechanical products, and textiles.

Trade with countries along the Belt &Road Initiative showed strong growth, increasing by 77.4 percent to 1.85 billion yuan, making up 52 percent of total foreign trade. The total value of exports to said countries was 1.77 billion yuan, a whopping 87.8 percent increase over last year.

Trade with traditional trading partners, including the European Union (EU), the United States, Japan, and South Korea, remained strong, increasing by 28.8 percent to 1.29 billion.

Nanyang has also made major breakthroughs by entering new markets such as Latin America, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Oceania. The trade value with these regions grew by 382.4, 104.5 and 35.3 percent, respectively, over the three-month period.