Imports and exports at Ningbo ports in East China's Zhejiang province stood at 1.04708 trillion yuan ($151.75 billion) in the first eight months of this year.

The figure represented a decrease of 7 percent year-on-year. The rate of decline was 2 percent less than the January-July period, according to Ningbo Customs.

Specifically, imports stood at 288.94 billion yuan over the eight-month period, down by 10.9 percent, while exports shrank 5.4 percent to 758.14 billion yuan.

In August, the city's imports and exports were valued at 154.99 billion yuan, a jump of 6.2 percent year-on-year.

Private companies remained the primary driving force in stabilizing foreign trade.

From January to August, the import and export volume of private companies amounted to 719.69 billion yuan, down 3.7 percent, the smallest drop among all business categories. The amount accounted for 68.7 percent of the total recorded in Ningbo ports over the period. 

The foreign trade value of companies in Ningbo stood at 421.87 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.7 percent.

Over 90 percent of imports and exports handled by the city are transported by water, amounting to 1.0141 trillion yuan in total in the first eight months.

The European Union, the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were still the city's top trading partners. Among them, trade with the US grew by 10.1 percent.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products and labor intensive products reached 377.6 billion yuan and 241.39 billion yuan respectively, down by 0.1 percent and 12.7 percent. 

However, the city saw an uptick of 12.6 percent in exports of high-tech products. Products such as medical instruments and equipment and mobile phones also saw notable increases.