North China's Tianjin Municipality saw robust foreign trade growth in October as its economy further recovers from the COVID-19 epidemic.

Its foreign trade grew for the fifth straight month in October, rising 12.1 percent year on year to 61.82 billion yuan (about 9.45 billion U.S. dollars), according to Tianjin Customs.

With the trade recovery, its foreign trade grew 2.3 percent year on year to 607.2 billion yuan in the first 10 months of this year, customs data showed.

The growth was mainly due to exports, which grew 5.2 percent year on year to 252.3 billion yuan, while imports edged up by 0.3 percent to 354.9 billion yuan, according to Tianjin Customs.

Private enterprises have become a new engine to drive Tianjin's foreign trade growth. Their foreign trade rose at a faster pace of 5 percent year on year to 225.6 billion yuan, accounting for 37.2 percent of the city's total trade volume in the first 10 months.

Tianjin's foreign trade reversed from a decline in the January-July period to growth in the January-August period after a spate of measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize trade. Enditem