The Yangtze River Delta, mainly composed of Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in east China, contributes to more than one third of China's export volumein the first half of this year, customs statistics show.

Official figures show that China's gross export volume amountedto 258.1 billion US dollars in the first six months of 2004, of which 37.46 percent came from the Yangtze River Delta, 4.2 percentage points higher than the same period in 2003.

Exports from Jiangsu saw a turnover of 37.58 billion US dollars,with 33.74 billion dollars from Shanghai and 25.36 billion dollarsfrom Zhejiang during the six months. Jiangsu and Shanghai ranked the second and third in terms of export among China's provincial areas.

Xu Yibao, vice director of the Shanghai Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Commission, said optimized commodity structures was the main reason for the region's booming foreign trade.

New and high-tech products together with household appliances contributed greatly to the Yangtze River Delta's export, of which IT products including laptop computers and integrated circuits sawan amazing increase under the joint efforts of state-owned enterprises, joint ventures and private firms.

Xu said the global industrial transfer in recent years brought more processing order forms to the Yangtze River Delta, turning itto one of the world's key manufacturing centers.

Improving global economic situation and China's more positive role in the World Trade Organization make experts predict a continuous foreign trade growth in the region during the second half of 2004.

Source: Xinhua