In the first eight months of this year, Ningxia Hui autonomous region's total foreign trade reached 17.72 billion yuan ($2.64 billion), a year-on-year increase of 23.9 percent, which was 6.3 percentage points higher than the national growth rate.
Imports totaled 4.26 billion yuan, while exports reached 13.46 billion yuan, year-on-year increases of 10.8 percent and 28.7 percent, respectively.
The region's total import and export volume was 2.24 billion yuan in August alone, a year-on-year increase of 21.2 percent.
Private enterprises are the main driving force for foreign trade in the region. In the first eight months, Ningxia's import and export volume of private enterprises was 14.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.2 percent and accounting for 83.1 percent of the region's total import and export value.
Ningxia has continued to deepen its exchanges with major trading partners. In the first eight months, Ningxia's imports and exports to ASEAN, India, the United States, Japan, and Ghana were 2.36 billion yuan, 1.64 billion yuan, 1.52 billion yuan, 1.34 billion yuan, and 1.16 billion yuan, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 3.9 percent, 33.4 percent, 23.3 percent, 48.9 percent, and 141.7 percent.