Shanxi’s total import-export value in this year’s first seven months grew 7.9 percent to 52.55 billion yuan ($8.25 billion), according to the statistics released by Taiyuan customs.

The statistics show that the province traded 5.26 billion yuan from January to July. Imports were worth 23.65 billion yuan, decreasing by 2.8 percent year-on-year; exports rose 18.6 percent to 28.91 billion yuan in the same period.

In the past seven months, Shanxi’s hi-tech products exports have brought in 12.17 billion yuan, 1.2 times more than in the previous year’ s first seven months. Exports of cell phones accounted for 11.38 billion yuan, increasing by 180 percent. However, the province exported only 543,000 cell phones in July, falling 6.3 percent year-on-year and 44.3 percent month-on-month.

Shanxi’s trade with partners such as the European Union, US, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan increased in the first seven months. Trade with South Korea has increased the most, rising 66.4 percent year-on-year.

On the other hand, BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and Australia have seen declining trade in the seven months.

The foreign trade volume of foreign-funded enterprises in the province had a significant increase, accounting for 49.2 percent of the province’s total, or 25.88 billion yuan.