A ship from Singapore unloads cargo at the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port. [Photo/IC]

Ningbo maintained the eighth spot on the list of the Top 100 Chinese Foreign Trade Cities of 2018 and the first spot among cities in Zhejiang province, according to Ningbo Customs.

The list has been released by the journal China Customs every year for the past 10 years. Another eight cities in the province also made the list, including Hangzhou and Jinhua.

The list is selected based on five indicators – quality, structure, efficiency, development, and potential of a city's foreign trade. Shenzhen, Shanghai and Dongguan placed among the top three cities.

In recent years, Ningbo Customs has been improving its clearance services in order to create a better business environment and save time and money for enterprises.

According to statistics from Ningbo Customs, the city's foreign trade value totaled 2.85 trillion yuan ($414.19 billion) in 2018, up 11.4 percent year-on-year. Specifically, its export value amounted to 2.12 trillion yuan, while its import value was 733.72 billion yuan.