Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality saw its foreign trade volume exceed 131.5 billion yuan (19.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter this year, up 21.9 percent year on year, according to the municipality's customs Wednesday.

Exports grew 25.1 percent year on year to 86.52 billion yuan in Q1 while imports rose 16.2 percent to 45.01 billion yuan.

Processing trade accounted for 48.1 percent of the city's foreign trade in Q1, up 24 percent.

Trade with the European Union and countries related to the Belt and Road Initiative all reported increases of 34.6 percent in Q1, while that with ASEAN countries saw more robust growth of 48.2 percent.

To facilitate trade, the city cut the customs clearance time for imports by 65 percent and that for exports by 94 percent last year.