(Yicai) April 24 -- Shanghai regained its crown as China's top city by foreign trade in the first quarter of this year despite seeing a drop in imports.

Shanghai's foreign trade fell 2.7 percent to CNY1.01 trillion (USD137.7 billion) in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, according to data the local government released yesterday. Exports rose 12.6 percent to CNY462.2 billion (USD63.3 billion), while imports tumbled 12.7 percent to CNY543.1 billion.

Against the backdrop of increasing economic and trade uncertainties in the first quarter, the Shanghai government held several meetings to urge the introduction of targeted support measures. It encouraged companies to accelerate their global expansion and actively explore emerging markets, which has shown some initial results.

Shenzhen, which fell to the second spot by foreign trade last quarter, has also made stabilizing imports and exports its key focus this year, with several new relevant policies having yielded positive results.

Shenzhen's foreign trade fell 2.8 percent to CNY990.1 billion, with exports dropping 8.7 percent to CNY585.51 billion, while imports rose 7.1 percent to CNY404.6 billion. Its foreign trade jumped 12.3 percent last month from a year earlier, outpacing the national average of 6 percent, a significant improvement from the first two months.

Shenzhen's trade growth last month benefited by improvement with its partners across board, including that with Hong Kong jumping 10.6 percent, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 14.1 percent, and with Taiwan 92 percent, with the three tanking as its biggest trading partners, according to data from the city's government. In addition, its trade with its other top 10 partners, including the European Union and the United States, also climbed from a year earlier.

Market diversification has enhanced the resilience of Chinese exports, helping to mitigate the pressure caused by new tariff barriers from certain countries, industry insiders told Yicai.

Third place Suzhou's foreign trade rose 7.3 percent to CNY632.5 billion last quarter from a year ago to rank third in China, while that of Ningbo, jumped 8.4 percent to CNY348.9 billion to take the fourth spot. The latter saw its imports and exports with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative account for 42.6 percent of its total, and the latter for 14.7 percent.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev