Foreign merchants purchase Christmas products in Yiwu, Zhejiang, a city known as the "supermarket of the world" on Dec 17, 2018. [Photo/IC]

East China's Zhejiang province recorded a total import and export value of 2.85 trillion yuan ($420.76 billion) in 2018, up 11.4 percent year on year while setting a new high in the province's history, according to statistics from Hangzhou customs office.

Of this total, the value of imported goods grew 19 percent to 733.72 billion yuan while that of exported goods reached 2.12 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent.

In spite of the lingering international trade frictions, fluctuations in exchange rates and prices of bulk commodities, and the domestic industrial adjustment, Zhejiang's foreign trade remained stable with good momentum and ranked top among major coastal provinces in China.

An official from Zhejiang's commerce department explained that over the past year, the province has accelerated the cultivation of foreign trade players in the market. The figures showed that in 2018, more than 30,000 new companies for foreign trade registered in Zhejiang, making it have the largest number of foreign trade companies in China.

He said to further expand the market, Zhejiang companies took an active part in trade exhibitions such as the East China Fair and the Canton Fair last year, successfully attracting orders worth $3.79 billion in total.

Moreover, to create a better business climate, Zhejiang government has also been deepening the reform to streamline its administrative services.

From $200 billion in 2008 to 420 in 2018, the growth of the import and export value over the decade is not just a quantitative increase, but also a qualitative improvement, especially the upgrading and transformation of industrial structure, according to the province's commerce department.

For the future, Zhejiang has to face up to the new challenges of global economy, said Lu Haisheng, director for statistics analysis at the Hangzhou customs office.

To maintain the robust growth momentum in foreign trade, Zhejiang's commerce department set three main tasks for 2019 – to strengthen response operations to China-US trade frictions, to give great impetus to the innovative development of China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone and to actively participate in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

A delegation from the United Nations visits a center of imported goods in Ningbo, Zhejiang province on Nov 4, 2018. [Photo/IC]