Bulk commodities drive Zhoushan's foreign trade growth

Foreign trade in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province achieved remarkable growth in the first quarter of this year, ranking second in the province. 

Statistics show that the city hit 25.52 billion yuan ($3.79 billion) in total foreign trade during the period, up 15.6 percent year on year. Imports rose 26 percent to 9.95 billion yuan, while exports rose 9.7 percent to 15.57 billion yuan. 

Bulk commodities played a major role in driving the growth. 

The city imported 3.99 million metric tons of iron ore worth 2.22 billion yuan, up 82.2 percent year on year and accounting for 72.6 percent of the city's total imports.

In terms of exports, oil remained the biggest commodity. The city exported 1.09 million tons of oil worth 3.36 billion yuan during the first three months of the year, up 18.1 percent from a year earlier.

"Two years ago, we launched new measures to allow different kinds of iron ore or oil to be mixed and processed to meet the needs of companies, which significantly facilitated the trade and boosted iron ore imports and oil exports," said Yu Luojun, director of the analysis department of Zhoushan Customs.

In addition, Zhoushan has vastly improved the efficiency of its customs clearance. Since December, customs clearance time for imports has been cut to 29.9 hours, a 4.9 hour reduction, while that for exports has been cut to 2.1 hours, a 0.22 hour reduction.