HARBIN — Foreign trade of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province rose 9.3 percent year-on-year to 32.28 billion yuan (about $4.6 billion) in the first two months of this year, local authorities said.

According to Harbin Customs, the province's imports saw a 12.5-percent increase, mainly driven by the growth in the imports of resource commodities.

From January to February, Heilongjiang imported 20.5 billion yuan of crude oil, up 6.6 percent year-on-year, accounting for 72 percent of the province's total import value.

State-owned enterprises played an important role in Heilongjiang's foreign trade growth. Their imports and exports increased by 17.2 percent to 20.61 billion yuan, accounting for 63.8 percent of the province's total amount.

The province has been making trade facilitation efforts and innovative measures to boost cross-border trade and deepen opening-up in recent years.