SHANGHAI (Xinhua) -- The Shanghai Customs Administration said Thursday that the city's foreign trade volume hit a monthly record in July, surpassing 400 billion yuan (about 59 billion US dollars) to reach 404.22 billion yuan.

Last month, the city's huge exports and imports increased by 32.9 percent and 16.4 percent, respectively, over the same period last year.

Exports of automatic data processing equipment and components, including laptops and mobile phones, rose 52.8 percent year-on-year to 23.13 billion yuan, while exports of labor-intensive products also experienced significant growth, reaching 22.34 billion yuan, up 36.4 percent. on an annual basis.

During this period, the export of new energy industry products became prominent. Shanghai exported 5.52 billion yuan worth of electric cars, 2.75 billion yuan worth of lithium batteries and 1.09 billion yuan worth of solar cells, up 19.5 percent, 560.9 percent and 197.4 percent year-on-year, respectively.

In terms of imports, Shanghai saw an increase in high-quality consumer goods in July, with imports of passenger cars, watches, jewelry and diamonds growing 56.9 percent, 13.8 percent, 36 percent and 14.7 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Meanwhile, over the course of the month, Shanghai imported 16.64 billion yuan worth of gold, up 25.7 percent year on year.