Foreign trade in Guizhou province saw a dramatic increase in first half of this year, amounting to 37.21 billion yuan ($5.99 billion), for an increase of 59.6–percent over the same period of last year, giving Guizhou the second fastest rate of growth of all China's provinces, according to the local Customs office.

Guiyang, the capital and the province's mainstay in foreign trade, did 31.28-billion yuan worth of trade in the first half, or 84.1 percent of the provincial total, with the city of Zunyi showing 2.68 billion yuan.

Worth noting is Guiyang's outstanding performance in May, at 11.02 billion yuan, and June, at 14.04 billion yuan, so that its foreign trade came in at fourth place among China's 10 provincial capitals. This can be attributed to its incentives for the local financial sector in May, which benefitted 83 foreign trade companies, 28 of which for more than $100 million worth of grants.

One local Customs official explained that their incentive policy encourages foreign trade enterprises and helps them explore international markets, which is necessary for local development, while another added that, as the labor costs grow, they are looking for new, more competitive ways, and pusing Guizhou to make a breakthrough in the second half.

And, in spite some difficulties in international markets, Guizhou appears to have a bright future in foreign trade thanks to some new policies from China's State Council, Commerce Department, and General Customs Administration and one Guiyang commercial affairs bureau official added that the integration of regional clearance procedures is expected to bring more benefits to the city and its bonded zone.

However, in the first half, the province also suffered a lot because of uncertainties about demand and saw a slight decrease of 5.4 percent of bilateral trade with ASEAN, its largest trade partner.