Annual trade along Belt and Road exceeded $953 billion

China's total value of trade with countries along the Belt and Road was about $953.59 billion in 2016, according to an annual report released recently by the Belt and Road Big Data Center of the State Information Center.

It accounts for 25.7 percent of the total amount of China's foreign trade.

The report shows that, regarding the trading market, Southeast Asia is China's largest export destination and the largest source of imports. Vietnam overtook Malaysia to become China's largest trading partner along the Belt and Road.

According to Tong Youjun, president of Dalian Infobank Co Ltd, which participated in the report's compilation, 120 million pieces of data on import and export with the 64 countries and regions in the region were analyzed.

"Big data on trade can be widely used in helping to make policies, reduce risks, do more effective marketing, assess changes in the market, and find commercial opportunities," Tong said.

Infobank, which is headquartered at the Dalian High-Tech Industrial Zone of Northeast China's Liaoning province, has built the world's largest database of exports and imports of goods, covering 171 countries and regions, Tong said.