THE foreign trade volume of Pudong New Area rose to $10.45 billion, a 55.2 per cent increase over the first half of last year, according to Shanghai Customs.

Imports amounted to $6.55 billion and exports to $3.9 billion. Year-on-year growth rates were 69.5 per cent and 35.8 per cent.

The foreign trade over this period displays the following seven characteristics:

* The trade volume surged. Within 10 years, the zone has developed into maturity with domestic demand expanding and heavy crackdowns on smuggling exerting an obvious effect;

* Encouraged by enlarged investment volume and the better efficiency of enterprises, the trade volume of processing products grew by 56.1 per cent to $2.503 billion;

* The investment-friendly environment has attracted more prestigious international companies who swelled foreign trade to $6.26 billion, accounting for 59.9 per cent of the total foreign trade of Pudong;

* State-owned sectors began to display their significance. In the first six months of the year, they took up 39.9 per cent of total foreign trade.

* With the improvement of commercial structure thanks to favourable policies, new and high-tech products such as integrated circuits, automobiles, ships and auto-processing equipment have developed quite fast. Mechanical and electrical products account for 58.9 per cent of total foreign trade at $6.15 billion;

* A total of 376 storage enterprises in Waigaoqiao Bonded Zone had expanded goods in stock to $1.93 billion at a growth rate of 85.6 per cent by the end of June.

Another development is that Japan ranks the first among Pudong's trade partners with total business volume of $2.16 billion. The United States, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea and Singapore follow close behind.