URUMQI, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Foreign trade volume of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was close to 88 billion yuan (12.4 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of this year, up 12 percent year on year, local authorities said Sunday.

The region's export volume during the same period remained flat at about 63 billion yuan, while import volume rose 61 percent to over 25 billion yuan, according to the customs authorities of Urumqi, the regional capital.

In the first eight months, Xinjiang's trade with Kazakhstan exceeded 40.6 billion yuan, accounting for 46 percent of the region's foreign trade.

Imports of energy, resources and agricultural products registered fast growth in Xinjiang, with imports of natural gas topping 7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 28 times.

The region exported more than 18 billion yuan worth of mechanical and electrical products from January to August, up 19 percent from a year earlier. Among them, exports of wind turbines registered a record high 54-fold increase to 1.9 billion yuan.