A raft of imported goods fill a huge warehouse in Ningbo Free Trade Zone in Zhejiang province before the mid-year shopping festival on June 18. [Photo/zj.zjol.com] 

Ningbo Free Trade Zone saw its cross-border imports hitting a new record high in the first half of the month, as the nation geared up for the mid-year shopping festival on June 18. 

Statistics from local customs showed that cross-border imports worth nearly 1.5 billion yuan ($219 million) were released from the zone from June 1 to 18, surging 148 percent year-on-year and accounting for 75 percent of the city's total during the period.

Cosmetics, healthcare, mother and baby products topped the list of imported goods in Ningbo FTZ, especially cosmetics products which took up more than 30 percent of the total.

"We've been preparing for the shopping festival since March, importing goods and having them delivered to our warehouse by sea, air and land," said a spokesman from Kaola, a leading cross-border e-commerce business in the zone.

Customs officials check the warehouses in a monitoring room in Ningbo Free Trade Zone in Zhejiang province. [Photo/zj.zjol.com]