North China's Shanxi province's foreign trade experienced a robust increase in the first half of 2024, with its total import and export value reaching 86.37 billion yuan ($11.9 billion), a year-on-year increase of 18.7 percent and ranking third in China.

In the first half of this year, the surge was driven by strong exports, particularly in mobile phones and components, steel, solar cells, textiles, and coal. Mobile phones and components alone contributed a 13.2 percentage point increase to the overall export growth. Steel exports added another 1.1 percentage points, while solar cells, textiles, and coal exports witnessed significant growth, collectively contributing a 2.7 percentage point increase.

On the import side, various metal ores, coal, and soybeans were the key drivers of growth. Imports of metal ores reached 12.03 billion yuan, a 71.6-percent increase; coal imports amounted to 2.29 billion yuan, a 45-percent increase; while soybean imports reached 870 million yuan, marking a 69.7-percent increase.

Meanwhile, new quality productive forces played a crucial role in propelling Shanxi's foreign trade growth in the first half of this year. The imports and exports of high-tech products reached 40.99 billion yuan, growing by 19.5 percent year-on-year. Notably, the exports of lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, and solar cells reached 1.28 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 135.8 percent. Furthermore, the leading enterprises in key industrial chains exported high-end equipment worth 720 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.7 percent.