Central China's Hunan Province has achieved a record foreign trade of 5.2 billion US dollars in 2004, a 40 percent increase over 2003, said the source with customs office of its capital Changsha on January 7.

It is the first time that Hunan's foreign trade has surpassed five billion US dollars.

Hunan's export turnover was 2.9 billion US dollars last year, bringing a 700-million-US-dollar favorable balance to the province.

The rapidly growing processing business is one of the major contributors to the province's foreign trade.

The European Union is the province's biggest trade partner, with trade worth 850 million US dollars last year.

Source: Xinhua