Northwest China's Shaanxi province reaped US$2.23 billion in imports and exports in the first half of this year, up 40.6 percent year-on-year, realizing a trade surplus of US$789 million, said the Xi'an Customs.

Exports and imports of the province in this period topped US$1.51 billion and US$722 million, up 52.3 percent and 21.2 percent, respectively, over the previous year.

Both the import and export figures were higher than the national average in the same period, the source said.

Ordinary trade dominated the province's imports and exports in the first half year, which increased by 43.1 percent year-on-year to hit US$1.85 billion, or 82.8 percent of the provincial total.

Processing trade totaled US$348 million, up 28.4 percent, which accounted for 15.6 percent of the provincial total.

Imports and exports by the foreign-funded enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and private firms in Shaanxi rose by 17.3 percent, 28.7 percent and 1.1-fold, respectively, in the first half of this year.

EU countries, the United States and Japan remained the province's main trading partners, whose trade volumes with Shaanxi in the January-June period totaled US$1.41 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2005)