Official statistics showed the July exports surged 19.2 percent over the same period last year, totaling US$2.7 billion.

The positive performance followed the city's sluggish first half of the year, signalizing optimistic prospects for the city's foreign trade in the next half of this year, according to the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission.

The city's exports in the first seven months of this year totaled US$17.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.5 percent, according to Shanghai Customs.

The figure was far from the official expectations and lower than the country's average level.

The September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States last year caused the abolishment or suspension of a number of trade deals for the city and exports to the European Union also dropped 4.1 percent during the first seven months of this year, said Yu Huimin, publicity official with the commission.

But Yu also noted the exports in Shanghai, as well as in East China, is expected to grow rapidly in the next half of this year.

The city's exports to the United States have seen continuous increases during the first seven months of this year with year-on-year increase of 14.7 percent, official statistics said.

The US market contributed to nearly one fourth of the city's exports and has temporarily replaced Japan as Shanghai's largest export destination.

The city's exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries totaled US$1.3 billion in the first seven months, showing rapid increases in July with a high growth rate of more than 30 percent over the same period last year.

Currently, high-tech products are the largest contributors to the city's exports.

Foreign-funded enterprises, with exports accounting for 59.9 percent of the city's total, have made consistent contributions to the city's foreign trade revival, the commission said.

(China Daily August 27, 2002)