BEIJING -- China's capital generated US$221.8 billion in foreign trade in the first three quarters of this year, a growth of 46.7 percent on the same period of last year, local customs house announced Thursday.

The amount, which surpassed the city's total foreign trade volume of $214.8 billion for the whole of 2009, included 40.7 billion dollars in export value, up 17.3 percent, and 181.1 billion dollars in import value, up 55.4 percent.

Leading trade partners of Beijing included the European Union, ASEAN members, the United States and Japan.

The city's top export commodity was cell phone, and its top import commodity was crude oil.

From January to September, Beijing sold abroad 130 million cell phones, up 18.4 percent year on year, and bought 150 million tonnes of crude oil, up 26.2 percent year on year.

source: Chinadaily