Exports from China’s central region increased 37.6 per cent year-on-year to US$91.7bn in the first 10 months of 2011, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

However, this growth rate was 15 percentage points lower than that in the same period of 2010 and 2.1 per cent down on the first nine months of this year due to a stronger Chinese currency and weakening external demand against the backdrop of rising global economic uncertainty.

Of the eight provinces in the central China, Henan and Jiangxi posted the strongest performances, with exports growing 71 per cent and 59 per cent respectively.