Foreign trade of Binhai New Area of north China's port city of Tianjin rose 6.5 percent to 354.12 billion yuan (about 52.2 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of this year, local authorities said.

During the period, Binhai's exports reached 119.43 billion yuan, up 13.7 percent year on year, while its imports totaled 234.69 billion yuan, up 3.2 percent, according to Tianjin customs.

In August alone, the area's imports and exports reached 47.88 billion yuan, up 16 percent year on year.

During the January-August period, the European Union, ASEAN, the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan were the top five trading partners of Binhai New Area. Enditem