Per capita trade turnover in Beijing reached 4,000 US dollars in 2002, ranking the first in China, a local official said Wednesday.
Beijing's total volume of imports and exports was 52.5 billion US dollars in 2002, ranking fourth in the country, said Chen Zexing, deputy director of the Beijing Foreign Trade and Economic Commission, at a municipal meeting on imports and exports.
Chen said the 2002 figure of 52.5 billion US dollars is significant in that it exceeds the combined projected 2003 figure for fixed asset investment and total retail sales volume of consumer goods of 200 billion RMB yuan (24.2 billion US dollars).
Imports and exports have become an important component of Beijing's economic development and may even influence the national economy, said Chen.