Fujian's trade volume with BRI countries stands at 178 billion yuan from January to May, an increase of 10.6 percent year-on-year. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

East China's Fujian province saw strong growth in trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in the first five months of this year, official data shows.

According to Xiamen Customs, Fujian's trade volume with BRI countries stood at 178 billion yuan ($26.56 billion) from January to May, registering an increase of 10.6 percent year-on-year, 4.5 percentage points faster than the province's overall growth rate in foreign trade.

Trade with BRI countries is a major economic driver for the province, accounting for 34.4 percent of the province's total trade.

ASEAN countries were its primary trading partners over the five-month period.

Statistics shows that Fujian's trade with the ASEAN bloc soared by 11.7 percent to 96.19 billion yuan. Its trade with Vietnam amounted to 16.4 billion yuan, up 38.2 percent.

Products exported to BRI countries from the province were mainly traditional labor-intensive products as well as mechanical and electrical products.

Exports of labor-intensive products, including textiles, clothing, furniture, luggage, shoes, plastic products and toys, reached 41.31 billion yuan, up 21.6 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the figure for mechanical and electrical products reached 36.63 billion yuan, up 23.9 percent year-on-year.

The two accounted for 70.1 percent of the province's total export value to the BRI countries over the period.