URUMQI, Dec. 18 -- The foreign trade value of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region grew 47.4 percent year on year to reach 320.53 billion yuan (about 45.19 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 11 months of 2023, local authorities said on Monday.

This is the first time Xinjiang's foreign trade value has exceeded 300 billion yuan, said Urumqi Customs.

During this period, Xinjiang saw rapid growth of exports of labor-intensive products and mechanical and electrical products. The total export value of these two commodities totaled 232.76 billion yuan, accounting for 86 percent of the region's total export value in this period.

In the first 11 months of the year, Xinjiang's trade with the five Central Asian countries increased by 53.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 79.8 percent of the total value of Xinjiang's foreign trade in the same period. The value of trade involving Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Xinjiang's three major trading partners, increased by 70.8 percent, 32.1 percent and 97.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the region's trade with Belt and Road partner countries saw a year-on-year increase of 49.8 percent during the period.