The Shanxi provincial commerce department has reported imports and exports worth $3.35 billion in Q1 this year, for a year-on-year increase of 25.5 percent, and putting it in 12th place in China.

Both imports and exports grew fast, with several factors contributed to it, according to the department. One was the aftereffect of the second half of last year's growth, another was the quick economic resurgence driven by national policies aimed at promoting foreign trade and stabilizing growth.

The province's export goods structure continues to improve, with fewer high energy-consumption products and more high-tech products, such as electromechanical goods and manufactured equipment goods from Shanxi enterprises. One thing worth noting is that the exports included 2.26 million mobile phones, worth $0.47 billion, with no comparable exports in the same period of last year.

Private enterprises, State-owned enterprises, and foreign-backed enterprises, accounted for33 percent, 34.9 percent, and 32 percent of the provincial total value, respectively, while exports and imports saw strong growth as well, while imports from and exports to Japan were down 10.2 percent, year-on-year.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Roger Bradshaw