Shanxi province's imports and exports grew 18.3 percent faster than those of all of China in the Jan – July period, and resulted in the province's exports exceeding imports for the first time, since December 2008, according to the Taiyuan Customs office.

Statistics show $9.2 billion worth of imports and exports in Shanxi, during 2013 H1, for a year-on-year increase of 26.8 percent, with exports of $4.74 billion, an increase of 63.4 percent, and imports, $4.46 billion, at 2.4 percent year on year, giving a trade difference of $271 million.

This is related to a sharp increase in high-tech exports, thanks to an ex-im restructuring in the province. In the Jan - July period, exports of the mechanical and electrical products amounted to $2.62 billion, a year-on-year increase of 116.5 percent, while exports of high-tech products hit $1.711 billion, for a 218.3–percent increase.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw