From January to May 2019, Zhongshan's export growth ranked second among the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta. [File photo by Wen Bo]

Zhongshan's total import-export value from January to May reached 98.76 billion yuan, an increase over last year of 8.2%, according to the report released by Zhongshan Customs on June 19. Specifically, exports accounted for 79.55 billion yuan with an increase over last year of 13.8%. Imports accounted for 19.21 billion yuan with a decrease compared to last year of 10.1%. Both the import and export growth rates of Zhongshan exceeded the overall growth rate of Guangdong Province, and the export growth rate ranked second among the nine cities in the Pearl River Delta.

In May, Zhongshan's import and export volume totaled 21.55 billion yuan, an increase over last year of 14.2%. The export volume added up to 17.64 billion yuan, a rise of 21.3% from last year's figure.

During the first 5 months, private companies still took the lead in import-export trade. Statistics show that private enterprises saw a 36.75 billion yuan total volume of imports and exports. This calculates to a growth rate of 26%, and made up as much as 37.2% of the city's total. The import and export of foreign-funded companies decreased by 0.3% to 56.4 billion yuan, which accounted for 57.1% of Zhongshan's total.

Mechanical and electrical products contributed the most to Zhongshan's export volume. From January to May, exported mechanical and electrical products valued 58.27 billion yuan, which rang in at an increase over last year of 12.4%. Furthermore, it accounted for 73.2% of Zhongshan's total export volume and increased Zhongshan's export growth rate by 9.2 percentage points.

During the same period, Zhongshan-US trade volume reached 17.61 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.7%. However, imports from and exports to the EU, ASEAN and Hong Kong reached 17.54, 12.56, and 10.16 billion yuan, charting increases of 18.5%, 16.7%, and 9.8% respectively.

Local companies were active in their trade participation with countries along the Belt and Road. In the first 5 months, trade between Zhongshan enterprises and the Belt and Road countries totaled 24.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.3%. Five countries, namely Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Singapore, saw the highest import-export value with Zhongshan.