Foreign trade in Zhejiang province reached 297.42 billion yuan ($42.16 billion) in July, for a year-on-year increase of 21.2 percent, ranking it first among China's major coastal provinces for monthly foreign trade growth, according to statistics from Hangzhou Customs.

The value of exports hit a record high, surging 27.7 percent year-on-year to nearly 234 billion yuan in July, accounting for 15.4 percent of the nation's total during the period and ranking it first among China's coastal provinces engaged in foreign trade.

The province's exports to its major partners maintained double-digit growth in the month, especially to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. Exports were worth 80.56 billion yuan, up 37.3 percent -- 9.6 percentage points higher than the average export growth for Zhejiang.

But Zhejiang’s exports to the United States grew 11.3 percentage points slower than the provincial average, at 16.4 percent, to come in at 41.13 billion yuan. Imports from the US fell by 25.3 percent to 2.78 billion yuan, 1.5 percentage points lower than the provincial average.

Private companies played a major role in driving export growth, with their total monthly export value rising by 31.4 percent to 188.84 billion yuan.

The 11 cities in the province all maintained double-digit growth. Ningbo, Jinhua and Wenzhou contributed the most to the province's total exports, accounting for 28.3 percent, 19.5 percent and 17.2 percent respectively of the province's total.

In terms of commodities, high-tech products took a large share in the first half of the year, about 43.4 percent of the province's total exports, growing 31 percent year-on-year to 101.46 billion yuan. 

Exports of electric appliances, mechanical devices, labor-intensive products and solar panels also maintained double-digit growth during the first half.

（News from Zhejiang, China）