With the inflow of foreign capital and overseas companies, north China's port city Tianjin is experiencing leaping contribution from foreign-funded businesses to its foreign trade.

The latest statistics from Tianjin Customs show that in the first ten months of this year, the import and export value of foreign-funded businesses in the city totaled US$27.38 billion, about 81 percent of the city's total foreign trade.

Customs officials said that foreign-funded businesses have become an important force in the city's economic development, and that their contributions have exceeded those of state-owned companies.

From January to October, a total of foreign trade volume of the city's state-owned companies increased by 18.8 percent from the same period last year to reach US$4.54, accounting for only 13.4 percent of the city's total foreign trade, according to customs sources.

But customs officials said the city's public and private companies, a rising force in the city's economy, registered the fastest growth of all sectors -- US$1.89 billion, up 80.8 percent year-on-year.

Nearly 100 of the world's top 500 companies have invested more than 6.7 billion dollars into Tianjin. During the first ten months of this year, the city introduced about 800 foreign-invested projects.

Customs sources said the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the European Union remained Tianjin's top four trade partners, accounting for 67.9 percent of the total foreign trade volume.

Electrical and mechanical products made up the largest percentage of exports, with US$11.55 billion, up 60.8 percent. Imports of primary products, such as food oil, iron, sand and crude oil, also reported increases.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2004)