China's southern island province of Hainan reported a 45.6 percent year-on-year growth in foreign trade in the first five months of this year.
Foreign trade totaled 38.4 billion yuan (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-May period, the Haikou Customs said.
During the five months, exports surged 53 percent year on year to 13.7 billion yuan while imports soared 41.7 percent to 24.7 billion yuan.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was Hainan's biggest trading partner, with trade up 62.7 percent year on year to 10.4 billion yuan.
Hainan's trade with the European Unio rose 36.7 percent to 6.3 billion yuan.
Hainan was approved in April 2018 to build a pilot free trade zone covering the whole island and explore the establishment of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics.
