In the first eight months of this year, the total value of foreign trade in Gansu province stood at 22.91 billion yuan, a drop of 6.8 percent year-on-year according to Lanzhou Customs on Wednesday.

Kazakhstan remains the province's top trade partner. In the first eight months, Gansu's imports and exports to Kazakhstan reached 4.11 billion yuan, up 21.9 percent year-on-year.

Imports and exports of State-owned enterprises increased slightly. In the first eight months, the import and export business of SOEs in Gansu reached 14.1 billion yuan, up 2.7 percent and accounting for 61.5 percent of its total foreign trade, an increase of 5.7 percentage points over the same period last year.

The import and export of new forms of cross-border e-commerce developed rapidly. In the first eight months, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce in Gansu province reached 6.994 million yuan, up 28.44 times year-on-year, among which 2.099 million yuan was exported, and there was no export data for the same period last year. All export commodities were wall or furnace tiles. Imports reached 4.895 million yuan, up 19.6 times year-on-year. The main import commodities were milk or dairy products and cosmetics, to the tune of 3.133 million and 1.762 million yuan respectively.

Distinctive agricultural products continued to grow. In the first eight months, Gansu's export of agricultural products reached 1.14 billion yuan, up 0.1 percent year-on-year, among which vegetable exports reached 170 million yuan and seed exports reached 150 million yuan, increasing 0.1 and 45.4 percent year-on-year respectively.

Imports of mechanical and electrical products and nickel and cobalt increased. In the first eight months, Gansu imported mechanical and electrical products reached 2.08 billion yuan, up 14.6 percent year-on-year. Among this total, the import of electrical and electronic products reached 1.34 billion yuan, up 27.5 percent year-on-year, and the import of machinery and equipment reached 540 million yuan, up 6.6 percent year-on-year. The import of nickel and cobalt in Gansu province reached 1.69 billion yuan during the same period, up 106.1 percent year-on-year.