SHANGHAI, Sept. 7 -- Shanghai has handled a total of 60 China-Europe freight trains this year as of Aug. 24, exceeding last year's annual total, according to Shanghai Customs on Thursday.

By Aug. 24, the freight trains had carried goods totaling approximately 2 billion yuan (around 273 million U.S. dollars), including chemical products, computer parts, clothing and auto parts, to stops along the Belt and Road in Central Asia, Europe and Russia.

Shanghai launched its first China-Europe freight train in September 2021.

In the first seven months of the year, Shanghai's imports from and exports to Kazakhstan totaled 2.17 billion yuan, a 33.7 percent year-on-year increase, and its foreign trade with Uzbekistan doubled year on year to 2.78 billion yuan, according to Shanghai Customs.