Tibet's foreign trade hits 3b yuan in first three quarters

In the first three quarters of this year, the total value of imports and exports of foreign trade in the Tibet autonomous region was 3.06 billion yuan ($434 million), of which the total value of exports was 2.53 billion and the total value of imports was 531 million with a trade surplus of 1.99 billion yuan, China News Service reported.

According to the Lhasa customs office, in the first three quarters frontier petty trade played a leading role, with value hitting more than 2.02 billion yuan — an increase of 31.8 percent.

In the same period, the region had trade relations with 56 countries and regions, with Nepal as the largest trading partner and export market.

Among the region's seven cities and prefectures, capital city Lhasa topped all others by posting a foreign trade value of 2.53 billion yuan, accounting for 82.8 percent of the region's total foreign trade value.

It is noteworthy that the region's Nyingch city has filled a gap in foreign trade this year, and the city's medical enterprises have exported medicinal and pharmaceutical substances worth more than 670,000 yuan to the United States.