The trade turnover between Tianjin, a north China port city, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members surged 32.3 percent to reach US$1.64 billion in the first half of this year, according to the latest statistics from Tianjin Customs.

The total trade turnover included US$910 million in exports, up 28.6 percent year on year, and US$730 million in imports, up 37.4 percent. Tianjin's foreign trade volume with ASEAN accounted for 7.8 percent of the city's total foreign trade turnover in the same six-month period.

Tianjin mainly imported electronic products and industrial raw materials from ASEAN and exported electromechanical products to the southeast Asian countries.

The city exported US$460 million in electromechanical products to ASEAN in the first half of the year, accounting for about 50 percent of the city's total exports to the southeast Asia region for the same period.

Foreign-funded enterprises and state-owned enterprises constituted the major exporters in Tianjin, with the former reporting a trade volume with ASEAN totaling US$810 million and the latter US$720 million in the first six months of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2003)