North China's port city Tianjin reported 28.49 billion US dollars of foreign trade in the first seven months of this year, up 24.5 percent over the same period of last year, the municipal customs said Tuesday.

The figure breaks down into 14.89 billion US dollars of exports and 13.6 billion US dollars of imports, up 34.9 percent and 14.7 percent respectively year-on-year.

In July alone, the city reported 2.51 billion US dollars of exports and 2.18 billion US dollars of imports, up 53.3 percent and 23.3 percent respectively over the same period of last year, according to latest figures provided by Tianjin customs.

Foreign-funded companies based in Tianjin reported 22.65 billion US dollars of foreign trade in the first seven months, contributing 80 percent to the city's total trade volume.

State firms contributed 3.73 billion US dollars of trade, or 13.1 percent to the total.

Between January and July, Tianjin posted 9.4 billion US dollars of general trade and 15 billion US dollars of processing trade, up 19.4 percent and 31.8 percent respectively.

In the seven-month period, Tianjin's exports of machinery and electric products grew 32.6 percent year-on-year to 10.15 billion US dollars, making up 68.2 percent of the city's total exports.

Two-way trade with its four largest partners -- the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan and the European Union -- totaled 18.86 billion US dollars, 66.2 percent of the city's total trade.

Tianjin ranked eighth among China's top 10 trading provinces and municipalities in 2004.

Source: Xinhua