China's Tianjin foreign trade up 12.1%

North China's Tianjin municipality saw robust foreign trade growth in October as its economy further recovers from the COVID-19 epidemic.

Its foreign trade grew for the fifth straight month in October, rising 12.1 percent year-on-year to 61.82 billion yuan ($9.45 billion), according to Tianjin Customs.

With the trade recovery, its foreign trade grew 2.3 percent year-on-year to 607.2 billion yuan in the first 10 months of this year, customs data showed.

The growth was mainly due to exports, which grew 5.2 percent year-on-year to 252.3 billion yuan, while imports edged up by 0.3 percent to 354.9 billion yuan, according to Tianjin Customs.

Private enterprises have become a new engine to drive Tianjin's foreign trade growth. Their foreign trade rose at a faster pace of 5 percent year-on-year to 225.6 billion yuan, accounting for 37.2 percent of the city's total trade volume in the first 10 months.

Tianjin's foreign trade reversed from a decline in the January-July period to growth in the January-August period after a spate of measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize trade.