China's Zhejiang posts trade recovery in Q1

HANGZHOU, April 18 (Xinhua) -- East China's Zhejiang Province saw its foreign trade reverse to growth within the first quarter of 2023 as the economy gained momentum with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

The province's total exports and imports hit 1.13 trillion yuan (164.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March period, up 4.8 percent year on year. Its exports grew 6.1 percent to 835.7 billion yuan and imports edged up 1 percent to 296.9 billion yuan, Hangzhou Customs said.

Stronger growth in March reversed a decline of 4.8 percent for the first two months of this year.

Amid global economic uncertainties, Zhejiang has made every effort to stabilize trade and investment and vie for export orders and the efforts are starting to have an effect, said customs authorities.

Among all, exports of solar cells, electric automobiles and lithium-ion batteries soared 46.2 percent year on year to 41.4 billion yuan, contributing to 1.7 percentage points of the foreign trade growth in the period.

During the period, Zhejiang's foreign trade with countries and regions along the Belt and Road grew 14.5 percent year on year to 440.2 billion yuan while its trade with other Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership members expanded 7.3 percent to 283.8 billion yuan, customs data showed.