The city of Taiyuan’s Customs office, in Shanxi province reports a provincial import and export volume, on July 16, of 45.54 billion yuan ($7.34 billion) in the January - June period, for an increase of 17.9 percent from the same last year period.

That growth rate was among China’s top three, as the national growth rate was down 6.9 percent. The province's imports were up 0.4 percent and exports up 36.1 percent, with exports were amounting to 5.97 billion yuan more than imports.

The most dramatic increase in Taiyuan was in processing, especially for the cell phones produced by Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group and steel from the Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group. The processing trade showed trade worth 26.45 billion yuan in all, up 87.6 percent year-on-year, but general trade was down 19.3 percent.

So, cell phones and steel accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total export volume in the province in first half, with the former growing a little and the latter decreasing.