Foreign tourists shop and explore at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Zhejiang province. [Photo by Wang Zhijin for chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhejiang's economy maintained steady growth in August, with further signs of structural optimization, according to data released on Sept 22 by the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Statistics.

Retail sales rose 4.9 percent year-on-year in August to 308.6 billion yuan ($43.38 billion), with goods retail accounting for 279 billion yuan. For the January to August period, total retail sales reached 2.51 trillion yuan, up 5.1 percent.

Foreign trade also experienced positive momentum. From January to August, Zhejiang's total imports and exports reached 3.68 trillion yuan, up 5.5 percent year-on-year. Exports rose 7.7 percent to 2.79 trillion yuan, while imports decreased 0.8 percent to 890 billion yuan. Both export and overall trade volumes set record highs for the period.

Private enterprises played a key role. Their total trade reached 3.02 trillion yuan, up 7.1 percent and accounting for 82 percent of the province's total. Exports from private firms grew 8.7 percent to 2.41 trillion yuan, contributing 96.3 percent to overall export growth.

Passenger and freight transport continued to recover. Passenger volume in August reached 58.68 million, a 4.3 percent increase, with railway transport up 6.8 percent. Freight volume rose 10.3 percent to 360 million metric tons, driven by a 14.5 percent increase in road freight. From January to August, passenger volume grew 3.2 percent, while freight volume rose 8 percent.