The foreign trade value of Hubei province in 2013 increased 14 per cent year-on-year to US$36.39bn, according to the statistics released by Wuhan customs. Exports for the central Chinese province were up 18 per cent to US$22.84bn.

For the country as a whole, the foreign trade total increased 7.6 per cent last year, with exports rising 7.9 per cent and imports up 7.3 per cent.