The total value of Zhanjiang's exports and imports from January to May reached 14.38 billion yuan ($2.03 billion), down 6.6 percent from the same period last year, according to recent statistics released by Zhanjiang Customs.

Exports amounted to 5.86 billion yuan, a decrease of 23.9 percent, while imports were 8.52 billion yuan, an increase of 10.7 percent.

In terms of trade methods, the import and export of general trade in the first five months of the year saw a decrease of 5.9 percent to 11.4 billion yuan, making up 79.3 percent of Zhanjiang's foreign trade. The import and export of bonded logistics from January to May reached 1.33 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.5 percent, while those of processing trade was 1.24 billion yuan, up 21.7 percent year-on-year.

In terms of enterprise categories, State-owned enterprises in Zhanjiang had a total import-export volume of 5.5 billion yuan from January to May, a year-on-year increase of 22.8 percent. The imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises in Zhanjiang saw a decrease of 17.2 percent to 2.62 billion yuan.

Zhanjiang Customs has carried out several measures to help enterprises in the city and to reduce the impacts of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on foreign trade, including boosting the development of the "bonded plus new retail" business model, strengthening the administration of foreign registration of food enterprises, and helping 22 aquatic product enterprises pass the health registration of the European Union (EU).