The trade volume between northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Russia reached US$4.13 billion in the first three quarters this year, up 6.2 percentage points over last year's same period, the latest customs statistics have shown.

The trade volume accounted for 19.9 percent of China's total trade with Russia for the same period, according customs figures.

As a neighbor of Russia, Heilongjiang's trade with Russia in the first nine months grew by 52.9 percent year on year and accounted for 59.1 percent Heilongjiang's total foreign trade volume for the January-September period this year.

The province also witnessed increases in trade with Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Germany and Canada, among other countries in the nine-month period ranging from 29.8 percent to 128.8 percent.

The province's total foreign trade reached US$7 billion in the first three months, a year on year rise of 43.1 percent. The growth rate is 19.4 percentage points higher than the national average for the same period.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2005)