ZHENGZHOU -- China's Henan province reported robust foreign-trade growth in the first half of 2021, according to local customs.

Henan's total imports and exports hit 365.66 billion yuan (about $56.4 billion) during the January-June period, up by 60 percent year-on-year, data from Zhengzhou Customs shows.

The figure jumped by 72.7 percent from the same period of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The trade figure set a record high for the first half-year period, Zhengzhou Customs said.

Exports over the six-month period hit 229.61 billion yuan, up by 56.7 percent, while imports reached 136.05 billion yuan, up by 65.8 percent. The two growth rates were 28.6 percentage points and 39.9 percentage points higher than the country's average levels, respectively.

Private businesses continued to be the biggest contributor to the trade growth, and local comprehensive bonded areas contributed nearly 60 percent of the total trade.

The United States, the European Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) remained the top three trading partners.

The province's trade with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries reached 100.56 billion yuan, up by 48.4 percent. Trade with participating countries of the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 81.9 billion yuan, up by 28.9 percent.