Shanghai’s exports and imports volume edged up 1.2 percent year-on-year to $328.1 billion in the first nine months of the year, amid the global economic slowdown and the eurozone debt crisis, said Zhang Xinsheng, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce on Thursday.

From January to September, the value of goods traded in Shanghai was 3.92 trillion yuan ($623 billion), up 19.3 percent from a year earlier.

In the same period, the city attracted direct investment of $2.58 billion, up 61 percent year-on-year, showing steady development in the city’s efforts to become an international trade center.

The eurozone debt crisis has taken its toll on the city’s exports. Exports to Europe declined 25 percent year-on-year from January to September, while exports to the United States and Japan also decreased, according to Zhang.

In order to boost trade, the city started construction of a 500,000 square meter exhibition complex in July, which is expected to ease the city’s shortage of exhibition areas.

There were 674 exhibitions across the city in 2011, taking up a total exhibition space of 9.53 million sq m, which made the city’s 368,000 sq m exhibition area insufficient, said Zhang.