North China's coal-rich province of Shanxi saw 67.1 percent year-on-year growth in trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the first quarter of 2023, local authorities said.

Trade between Shanxi and ASEAN countries totaled 6.54 billion yuan (about 944 million U.S. dollars) in the period, according to the customs of Taiyuan, the capital city of the province.

Among the 10 ASEAN countries, Indonesia ranked first in the trade value with Shanxi from January to March, with an import and export value of 3.29 billion yuan, an increase of 368.7 percent.

The main exports consisted of mechanical and electrical products. In the quarter, Shanxi exported 1.9 billion yuan of mechanical and electrical products to ASEAN countries, an annual increase of 50.2 percent and accounting for nearly 70 percent of its total exports.

Shanxi's imports of ferroalloy saw a robust increase during the period. It imported 115,000 tonnes of ferroalloy with a value of 1.89 billion yuan, making up nearly half of the province's total imports.