ZHENGZHOU — Central China's Henan province saw robust growth in its foreign trade in the first four months of 2021, according to the local customs.

The total import and export value hit 253.64 billion yuan (about $39.18 billion) during the period, up 72.3 percent year-on-year, data from the Zhengzhou Customs showed.

Of the total, exports soared to 159.43 billion yuan, marking a 72.5-percent increase from the same period last year, while imports jumped 72.1 percent year-on-year to 94.21 billion yuan.

The province's private businesses made the greatest contribution to the trade growth, with a total import and export value of 105.39 billion yuan, up 111.4 percent from the same period last year.

The province's trade with Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries reached 71.47 billion yuan, up 53.9 percent, while that with participating countries of the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 57.58 billion yuan, up 38.2 percent.