Foreign trade in Yantai, East China's Shandong province hit 95.59 billion yuan ($14.71 billion) in the first three months of this year, an increase of 69.1 percent year-on-year, according to Yantai customs.

The city's exports stood at 53.89 billion yuan, up 61.3 percent while imports hit 79.08 billion yuan, up 29.8 percent.

General trade imports and exports reached 43.44 billion yuan, up 44.6 percent and accounting for 45.4 percent of the city's total foreign trade.

The imports and exports of private and foreign-invested enterprises in Yantai saw a significant increase during the period. The figure for private enterprises reached 44.78 billion yuan, up 68.7 percent and accounting for 46.9 percent of the city's total.

Imports and exports of foreign-invested enterprises were valued at 44.39 billion yuan, up 87.6 percent, while the foreign trade of State-owned enterprises hit 6.19 billion yuan, up 0.7 percent.

The United States?was the largest trading partner of Yantai. From January to March this year, the city's foreign trade to the United States grew by 163.2 percent to 15.05 billion yuan.

South Korea?was the second largest trading partner of Yantai. The city's foreign trade to the country hit 11.51 billion yuan, an increase of 51.2 percent during the period.