HOHHOT - North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region saw a foreign trade volume of 196.53 billion yuan ($27.32 billion) in 2023, up 30.4 percent year-on-year, hitting a record high, local authorities said Monday.

According to the Hohhot Customs, the region's exports came in at 78.57 billion yuan, up 28.1 percent year-on-year and imports reached 117.96 billion yuan, up 32 percent year-on-year.

In 2023, the region's imports and exports to the Belt and Road Initiative participating countries reached 152.21 billion yuan, up 40.9 percent year-on-year and accounting for 77.4 percent of the region's total.

The region's foreign trade with Mongolia was 69.9 billion yuan, up 50.7 percent year-on-year and that with Russia reached 34.66 billion yuan, up 77.3 percent year-on-year.

In addition, Erenhot Port, the largest land port between China and Mongolia, handled a total of 3,294 China-Europe freight trains last year, up 30.8 percent year-on-year, and Manzhouli, China's largest land port, handled 5,001 China-Europe freight trains, up 3 percent year-on-year.

In 2023, the freight volume handled by the ports in Inner Mongolia exceeded 100 million tons for the first time.