NANJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- East China's Jiangsu Province saw its foreign trade rise 5.6 percent year on year to 370.7 billion yuan ($55.4 billion) in January, according to Nanjing Customs.

On Dec. 31, 2018 shows homemade vehicles at a port in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

The trade accounted for 13.6 percent of the country's total.

Its exports reached 222.5 billion yuan, up 8.7 percent year on year, while imports rose 1.3 percent to 148.1 billion yuan, the customs said.

Private enterprises played a bigger role, contributing 2.3 percentage points more to capture 29.9 percent of the province's foreign trade.

In January, the total imports and exports of private enterprises stood at 110.7 billion yuan, an annual increase of 14.4 percent.

While maintaining stable growth, the province is optimizing its foreign trade structure.

In January, exports and imports of products under the general trade category, which are differentiated from processing trade, gained 11.1 percent to 187.88 billion yuan. The growth was 2.1 percentage points faster than last year.

Jiangsu also saw booming trade with countries along the Belt and Road.

Trade with countries along the Belt and Road, including Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, rose by more than 20 percent.