Gansu's foreign trade hits 37.99 billion yuan in 2019

The total value of imports and exports in Northwest China's Gansu province's foreign trade was 37.99 billion yuan in 2019. In December, it was 3.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.3 percent, according to Lanzhou Customs.

In 2019, Gansu's import and export of foreign trade presented three characteristics:

The "friend circle" of economic and trade exchanges has continued to expand. In 2019, Gansu's trading partners spread across a total of 155 countries or regions on six continents, an increase of 8 over the previous year, and achieved significant results in expanding emerging international markets such as Latin America, Oceania, and countries participating in the "Belt and Road". In 2019, the total import and export value of Gansu province with Latin America and Oceania was 2.98 billion yuan and 2.78 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 67.4 percent and 37.3 percent year-on-year, and the growth rate was much higher than the overall growth rate of foreign trade. Total value with countries along the "Belt and Road" were 20.09 billion yuan, up 2.8 percent year-on-year; Total value to ASEAN was 4.4 billion yuan, up 47.2 percent year-on-year, and the value of foreign trade accounted for 11.6 percent of the province's total foreign trade value, an increase of 4 percent points over the previous year .

The speed of private enterprises in imports and exports is growing. In 2019, the overall performance of private enterprises in Gansu province was amazing. The total value of imports and exports of private enterprises in the whole year was 16.41 billion yuan, an increase of 5.9 percent year-on-year. The endogenous motivation of the province's foreign trade continued to increase.

The import and export of comprehensive insurance areas continued to multiply. In 2019, the import and export value of the Lanzhou New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone was 2.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 134 percent, driving the province's import and export growth to increase by 3.1 percentage points. Among them, exports were 1.31 billion yuan, an increase of 135.6 percent year-on-year, driving the province's export growth by 5.2 percentage points; imports were 820 million yuan, an increase of 131.3 percent year-on-year, driving the province's imports to increase by 1.9 percentage points, becoming the province's foreign trade import and export growth pole. The role of the "booster" in stabilizing foreign trade continued to play.

The structure of import and export products continued to be optimized. From the perspective of exports, the export of advantageous products, such as agricultural products, labor-intensive products, and cultural products in Gansu province maintained growth in 2019. The export value of agricultural products for the year was 2.12 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percent, of which fresh and dried fruits and nuts were 720 million yuan, an increase of 12.3 percent; the export value of vegetables was 260 million yuan, an increase of 36 percent. The export value of labor-intensive products was 840 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 190 percent. The export value of cultural products was 250 million yuan, an increase of 130 percent year-on-year. From the perspective of imports, Gansu's imported bulk mineral products maintained a substantial growth trend throughout the year. Among them, imports of copper ore and concentrates was 11.51 billion yuan, an increase of 18.6 percent year-on-year; the import of nickel ore and its concentrates were 2.87 billion yuan, an increase of 30.8 percent, driving the province's foreign trade growth rate to increase by 6.3 percentage points.