The European Union has become the largest trade partner with central China's Hunan Province with the bilateral trade value reaching 429 million US dollars during the first half of this year.

The volume accounted for 17.2 percent of the total imports and exports of the province in the six months, or 2.49 billion dollars,up 46 percent year-on-year.

Japan trails the EU with a trade volume with Hunan at 372 million dollars from January to June, followed the United States with 259 million dollars.

Japan led all exporters to ship 219 million dollars worth of products to Hunan in the six months.

The United States follows Hong Kong to become the second largest importer, or 176 million dollars worth, of products from Hunan in the six-month period.

Hunan's exports of products made with imported raw materials reached 147 million dollars, up 54 percent year-on-year, 24 percentage points higher than the average growth rate of local exports during the corresponding period.

Source: Xinhua