Foreign trade in northeast China's Liaoning Province amounted to 6.32 billion US dollars in the firstquarter of this year, a growth of 17.8 percent year-on-year.

However, the growth rate was 22 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, according to local customs house.

The total trade volume included 3.06 billion US dollars in import value, up 20.1 percent year-on-year; and 3.26 billion US dollars in export value, up 15.7 percent. The trade surplus was 200 million US dollars.

The export volume included 190 million US dollars worth of oil products, down 37.9 percent from the year-earlier level, 1.43 billion dollars worth of machines and electronics, up 22.3 percent,and 590 million dollars worth of new and high tech products, up 30.3 percent.