Foreign trade in Chongqing totalled US$5.14bn in the first half of 2010, an increase of 49 per cent year-on-year. Exports were valued at US$2.95bn, up 58 per cent, which was 23 percentage points higher than the national average level, according to Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Commission.

A fast-growing high-technology sector is one of the factors behind the municipality’s recent export boom. Foreign companies such as HP and CISCO have established new manufacturing bases in Chongqing. The HP plant will produce 5m computers this year and 40m by 2012, Mayor Huang Qifan told China Daily this week.