The Tibet Autonomous Region reported a total imports and exports of 28.81 million US dollars for the first quarter this year, a sharp rise of 40.95 percent year on year.
Of the total, exports jumped by 42.8 percent to 25.97 million US dollars and imports grew by 28.4 percent to 2.85 million US dollars, according to the regional statistics bureau.
During the same period, Tibet had a total industrial output value of 219.94 million yuan (about 26.5 million US dollars), up 7.9 percent from a year earlier. Industrial businesses at and above the township level realized 91.05 million yuan (about 10.97 million US dollars) in value added, a rise of 8.1 percent.
Major industrial products include chrome ores, prepared traditional Chinese medicine, beer and cement.
Tourism in this southwestern Chinese region continued to surge over the three months, when the number of tourists increased 19.2 year on year to 59,727, including 3,171 from overseas, up 29.8 percent.
The tourists brought to the local tourism industry a total income of 41.38 million yuan (about 4.99 million US dollars), a rise of 33.6 percent from the same period last year.
(People's Daily 05/03/2001)