Gansu province's foreign trade value reached 47.2 billion yuan ($6.52 billion) in the first 10 months of 2024, up 15.3 percent year-on-year. According to Lanzhou Customs, imports rose 21.5 percent to 37.26 billion yuan , while exports totaled 9.94 billion yuan.  

Officials announce that Gansu's foreign trade reached 47.2 billion yuan in the first 10 months of 2024 at the press conference held by Lanzhou Customs, on Nov 15, 2024. [Photo provided to gogansu.com]

In October alone, the province's foreign trade volume reached 4.85 billion yuan, up 63.3 percent, with exports increasing by 1.8 percent to 990 million yuan and imports surging 93.1 percent to 3.86 billion yuan.

By trade mode, processing trade grew 41.3 percent to 13.61 billion yuan in the first 10 months, accounting for 28.8 percent of the province's total trade value, up 5.3 percentage points. General trade reached 31.73 billion yuan, up 2.5 percent, representing 67.2 percent of the total.

Kazakhstan, Peru, and Australia emerged as Gansu's top three trading partners, with trade values of 11.54 billion yuan, 4.71 billion yuan, and 3.43 billion yuan, respectively, growing by 14.7 percent, 370.1 percent, and 77 percent. Trade with Belt and Road countries reached 35.47 billion yuan, up 17.1 percent, accounting for 75.1 percent of the total.

Private enterprises recorded trade volume of 19.5 billion yuan, up 37.6 percent, representing 41.3 percent of the total. State-owned enterprises' trade reached 27.31 billion yuan, up 4.6 percent, accounting for 57.9 percent, while foreign-invested enterprises recorded 390 million yuan in trade value.

Import highlights included metal ores at 26.25 billion yuan, up 52.8 percent, representing 70.5 percent of total imports. Copper, nickel, and iron ore imports grew by 58.1 percent, 3.7 percent, and 190.3 percent respectively. Nickel-cobalt materials imports increased 30 percent to 2.04 billion yuan, while nickel matte imports reached 2.58 billion yuan and asphalt mixture imports totaled 890 million yuan.

On the export side, agricultural products reached 2.71 billion yuan, up 22.4 percent, while basic organic chemicals exports grew by nearly 41 percent to 430 million yuan. Mechanical and electrical products exports totaled 4.6 billion yuan, accounting for 46.3 percent of total exports, including new energy equipment exports of 430 million yuan.