Shanghai's foreign trade volume exceeded US$162.6 billion in the first five months of this year, up 23.3 percent from a year earlier, Youth Daily reported today.

The export volume surged by 26.6 percent to US$100.6 billion and the import volume grew 18.4 percent to US$62 billion in the period.

With the increasing price of raw materials in the international market, the city imported products at higher prices.

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