A China-Europe Chang'an freight train departs Xi'an, carrying exports to other countries. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

From January to July this year, the total foreign trade of Xi'an – capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – saw a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percent to 257.1 billion yuan ($37.52 billion), according to the latest statistics released by Xi'an Customs.

Of that, exports came in at 159.89 billion yuan, up 29.1 percent year-on-year, while the imports were 97.21 billion yuan, down 19.4 percent year-on-year.

During the period, the city's trade with the European Union and the ASEAN bloc increased by 15.7 percent and 36.6 percent, respectively, to 33.72 billion yuan and 30.58 billion yuan.

Moreover, its trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 49.25 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.4 percent – accounting for 19.2 percent of the city's total foreign trade.

In the first seven months, imports and exports of private enterprises in Xi'an grew rapidly to 86.71 billion yuan, up 15 percent year-on-year.

Imports and exports by foreign-funded enterprises and State-owned businesses in the city came in at 158.78 billion yuan and 11.8 billion yuan, respectively, up 1.4 percent and down 13.1 percent.

Of the main export commodities, the trade in mechanical and electrical products was worth 147.97 billion yuan, an increase of 27.2 percent, accounting for 92.5 percent of the city's total export value. These mainly comprised integrated circuits, automatic data processing equipment and their components, solar cells, automobiles and lithium-ion batteries.

Nonetheless, the city's imports of mechanical and electrical products came in at 61.25 billion yuan – down 31.6 percent – accounting for 60.1 percent of the city's value of imports.