The foreign trade volume of Yunnan Province rose 13.4 percent to 50.1 billion yuan (7.48 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2019, local customs authorities announced April 17.

The province's export volume totaled 21.5 billion yuan, up 31.8 percent, while the import volume reached 28.5 billion yuan, an increase of 2.5 percent from the same period last year, showed statistics released by the customs of Kunming, the provincial capital.

The foreign trade volume with the major trade partners maintained sound growth. Trade with countries along the Belt and Road reached 35.1 billion yuan, an increase of 5.3 percent year on year, accounting for 70.1 percent of Yunnan's total.

Of these, Yunnan trade volumes with the ASEAN, Europe and Latin America increased by 12.9 percent, 40.4 percent and 71.5 percent respectively.

Yunnan mainly exported produce, electromechanical products and labor-intensive products, with export contributing 88.2 percent of Yunnan's total foreign trade volume.

In 2018, Yunnan's foreign trade volume reached a historic high of 197.3 billion yuan.

Reporting by Liu Ziyu; trans-editing by Wang Shixue