CHENGDU, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The foreign trade volume of southwest China's Sichuan Province rose 25.1 percent to 146 billion yuan (21.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2019, local customs authorities announced Monday.
The province's export volume totaled 80.9 billion yuan, up 37.5 percent, while the import volume reached 65 billion yuan, an increase of 12.4 percent from the same period last year, showed statistics released by the customs of Chengdu, the provincial capital.
The growth rate is much higher than the national average for the same period, the customs said.
The foreign trade volume with the top four trade partners of the province, the United States, European Union countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, and Japan, totaled 98.9 billion yuan, accounting for 67.7 percent of the province's total imports and exports.
Trade with countries along the Belt and Road reached 38.9 billion yuan, an increase of 9.8 percent year on year, accounting for 26.7 percent of Sichuan's total.
In 2018, the province's foreign trade volume reached a historic high of 594.7 billion yuan.
