Foreign trade

In 2000, Hubei province reported a growth of 20.4 per cent in its total foreign trade value, which rose to US$3.223 billion from US$2.677 billion in 1999. Total export value was US$1.936 billion, up by 28 per cent over US$1.512 billion in 1999 and equalling 3.75 per cent of the provincial GDP of RMB427.632 billion (US$51.56 billion).

Table 7.17.2: Top five export markets, Hubei Province, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Export value (US$ million)	% of export total
1995
Hong Kong	1,080.74	46.4
Japan	251.71	10.8
USA	144.69	6.2
Republic of Korea	142.73	6.1
Germany	72.13	3.1
Total	1,692	72.6
2000
Japan	311.02 16.07
Hong Kong	265.97	13.74
USA	191.27	9.88
Taiwan Province	133.70	6.91
Germany	96.94	5.01
Total	998.9	51.61

Export of primary products amounted to US$194 million, accounting for 10 per cent of the total export value. Export of manufactured products was US$1.742 billion, accounting for 90 per cent of the total export value.

The top five export destinations played a less important role than 1995, when the top five took 70 per cent of the province's total export. This figure dropped to a little over 50 per cent in 2000.

Total import value was US$1.287 billion, up by 10.5 per cent over US$1.167 billion in 1999. Import of primary products amounted to US$322 million, accounting for 24.99 per cent of the value of all imports. The import value of manufactured products was US$966 million, or 75.01 per cent of the total import value.

Imports came from 68 countries and regions , while the top five import markets (see Table 7.17.3) supplied over 55 per cent of the province's imports.

Table 7.17.3: Top five import markets, Hubei Province, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Import value (US$ million)	% of import total
1995
Hong Kong	390	28.49
France	162	11.83
Japan	160	11.69
Germany	91	6.65
USA	74	5.41
Total	877	64.07
2000
Japan	242.76	18.86
USA	151.24	11.75
France	127.3	9.89
German	108.4	8.42
Taiwan Province	81.71	6.35
Total	711.41	55.27