Brand-new vehicles from Chongqing Changan Automobile Co have been transported to the port, ready to be shipped overseas. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

Liangjiang New Area in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality registered 135.5 billion yuan ($20.33 billion) in imports and exports in the first half of 2021, up 55 percent year-on-year and accounting for 36 percent of Chongqing's total foreign trade.

"Foreign trade is currently flourishing, and we have received many orders," said He Daoguo, general manager of LJML Logistics Co, a Chongqing-based company with a long-standing reputation. The company's exports and imports surged during the first two quarters of this year, with exports (most of them are small household appliances) growing by 50 percent, and imports growing by 150 percent year-on-year.

He said that the company is considering collaborating with the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport and overseas airports to open direct flights to Southeast Asia.

The proportion of general trade in Liangjiang rose to 56 percent of total foreign trade in this period, reflecting improvement in the localization supporting infrastructure and the competency of Liangjiang's foreign trade products, as well as a stronger pull of foreign trade on the local economy.

To counteract the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new area optimized its services for enterprises involved in foreign affairs last year, and has completed nearly 100 administrative coordination cases and answered more than 170 questions from enterprises. Meanwhile, Liangjiang has also strengthened its support for the application of foreign trade development trial zones.

Data indicate that in the first six months of 2021, Liangjiang's major automobile and auto spare parts manufacturers posted 8.5 billion yuan in imports and exports, an increase of 68.03 percent over the same period last year.