Foreign trade in Shanghai reached 227.4 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 22 percent from the previous year, according to official statistics.

Zhou Yupeng, vice mayor of Shanghai, said exports by Shanghai surged 25.2 percent year-on-year to 113.6 billion U.S. dollars, while imports climbed 19 percent to 113.8 billion U.S. dollars.

According to the municipal foreign trade commission, new and high-tech commodities contributed to nearly 39 percent of its export, about 10 percentage points higher than the country's average.

Zhou said Shanghai will expand import in 2007 in the process to build Shanghai into an international trade center.

Annual foreign trade volume of Shanghai, the nation's business and financial center, has grown 2.7 times since 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization.

Source: Xinhua