ZHENGZHOU, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Foreign trade of central China's Henan Province rose by 2.9 percent to 459.45 billion yuan (about 69.79 billion U.S. dollars) in the first 10 months of this year, local authorities said.

From January to October, the province's exports reached 278.15 billion yuan, down 3.7 percent year on year, and its imports totaled 181.3 billion yuan, up 14.9 percent, according to Zhengzhou customs.

A year-on-year increase of 5.2 percent in Henan's foreign trade was observed in October, when the total volume hit 82.32 billion yuan, setting a monthly record.

Despite the impact of COVID-19, the import and export of Henan's private enterprises maintained double-digit growth. Although the exports of mobile phones and agricultural products dropped, that of labor-intensive products increased dramatically during the period.

In the first 10 months of this year, the trade volume of Henan with the European Union (not including Britain) reached 75.25 billion yuan, surging 37.4 percent, and its trade volume with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) rose 3.2 percent to hit 62.56 billion yuan.

Building on the effective containment of the COVID-19 epidemic, China has rigorously rolled out a string of measures to stabilize foreign trade and investment.