In 2013, although the international economy and trade were under depression, Yichang still maintained a good momentum in its foreign trade development with 2 billion U.S. dollars exceeded for the first time, ranking second in export value in Hubei province.

　　Foreign trade export is an important parameter to measure the potential of a city development. According to the data from Yichang Customs, in 2013, the total exports and imports of Yichang has reached 2.35billion U.S. dollars as while as the trade surplus reached 1.69 billion U.S. dollars, with 550 million U.S. dollars expanded than last year. The information from Yichang Commercial Bureau revealed that as the official announcement of annual export data of Hubei province in 2013, the annual export of Yichang had exceeded 2 billion RMB for the first time and reached 2.017 billion U.S. dollars, ranking second in Hubei province.

　　In 2013, the total value of export of Hubei province reached 22.84 billion U.S. dollars. The total value of export of Yichang ranked after Wuhan, the growth of which is 3.6% higher than the average point all over the province, 580 million U.S. dollars and 810 million U.S. dollars higher than Xiangyang and Huangshi respectively. At the same time, the total value of import ranked third in the province after Wuhan and Huangshi. Last year, the general import and export trade of the city reached 1.88 billion U.S. dollars, showing a 5.2% growth and the processing trade reached 430 million U.S. dollars, showing an 18.2% growth.

　　Ammonium dibasic phosphate, yeast, aluminum foil, gauze and shipping are the top 5 export commodities in Yichang. Among them, the export of ammonium dibasic phosphate is 330 million U.S. dollars, the yeast is 114 million U.S. dollars, the aluminum foil is111 million U.S. dollars, the gauze is 90 million U.S. dollars and the shipping is 60 million U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the mechanical and electrical products export in Yichang City reached 320 million U.S. dollars, showing a 21.8% growth, the high and new technology products export reached 130 million U.S. dollars, showing a 14.4% growth and the agricultural products export reached 270 million U.S. dollars, showing a 0.6 % growth.

　　In 2013, the bilateral trade values of Yichang City with the 6 trade partner-- EU, ASEAN, the U.S., India, Japan and Pakistan exceeded 100million U.S. dollars respectively and 1.55 billion in total, accounting for 66% of the total foreign trade value of the city. Among them, the bilateral trade with Pakistan, Japan and ASEAN grew rapidly, showing a 1.4 times, 42.2% and 32.5% growth respectively.

　　During the 642 enterprises registered in Yichang Coustoms, there are five with their total foreign trade values exceeding 100 million U.S. dollars, including Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group, Dongyangguang Formed Foil Company, Angel Yeast Company, Hubei Yihua Group and Hubei Dongsheng Phosphatic Compound Fertilizer Company. (Reporter Pei Shujing, Zhang Bokang correspondent Zhang Lingzi)