The foreign trade volume of Northwest China's Gansu province reached 14.44 billion yuan ($2.04 billion) in the first five months of this year, decreasing 11.4 percent from the same period last year according to Lanzhou customs. The total value of imports and exports was 2.71 billion yuan in May, a decline of 30.5 percent year-on-year.

Kazakhstan ranks first among trading partners. In the first five months, Gansu's imports and exports to Kazakhstan reached 2.36 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent year-on-year and accounting for 16.5 percent of the province's total foreign trade value.

In the same period, Gansu's imports and exports to countries along the "Belt and Road" reached 6.15 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 23.1 percent, accounting for 42.6 percent of the province's total foreign trade value and a decrease of 6.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

Gansu's imports and exports to the European Union, Mongolia, ASEAN, Australia, and Peru decreased 20.8, 32.1, 35.5, 36, and 15.5 percent respectively year-on-year.

The pace of processing trade transfers continued to accelerate. In the first five months, Gansu province's imports and exports of processing trade reached 4.47 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percent, accounting for 31 percent of the province's total foreign trade value, an increase of 5.1 percentage points from the same period last year.

During the same period, general trade imports and exports were 9.36 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 20.3 percent, accounting for 64.8 percent of the province's total foreign trade value, a decrease of 7.2 percentage points from the same period last year.

The export of agricultural products continues to grow. In the first 5 months, the export of Gansu's agricultural products was 860 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.5 percent.

The export of vegetables was 120 million yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent over the same period last year; the export of fruit and vegetable juices was 97.97 million yuan, an increase of 4.4 times over the previous year.

The import of nickel-cobalt new materials and mechanical and electrical products increased. In the first five months, the import of nickel-cobalt new materials in Gansu province was 1.09 billion, an increase of 1.4 times year-on-year; the import of mechanical and electrical products was 1.23 billion yuan, an increase of 14.8 percent year-on-year.

Among them, the import of electrical and electronic products was 820 million yuan, an increase of 28.9 percent year-on-year.