Foreign-funded enterprises continue to play a leading role in Shanghai's foreign trade, statistics from municipal customs have shown.

The total export and import volume of foreign-funded enterprises based in Shanghai amounted to 90.9 billion US dollars in the past three quarters of 2005, up 16 percent year-on-year, taking up 64.6 percent of the city's total foreign trade.

The total export value of these enterprises reached 46.2 billion US dollars, up 7.9 percent and the total imports reached 44.7 billion US dollars, up 25.7 percent.

Shanghai has attracted an increasing number of overseas manufacturing enterprises and the city's processing trade has maintained robust momentum in the past nine months, said a customs official.

Imports from processing trade totaled 31.38 billion US dollars, up 21.6 percent, contributing two thirds of the city's total import value. The sector's export reached 34.56 billion US dollars, taking up 77 percent of the city's total, up 24 percent year-on-year.

Mechanical and electrical, as well as high-tech companies, such as Intel and Siemens, retained their positions as the top contributors to the city's foreign trade.

Source: Xinhua