The Tibet autonomous region reported an increase of 103 percent in foreign trade in the first five months of this year, 75 percentage points higher than the national average and second-highest in the country, Tibet Daily reported on Sunday.

Between January and May, Tibet's total import and export value hit 1.46 billion yuan ($226 million), according to the region's Department of Commerce.

"The total value of foreign trade in the whole region continued to grow rapidly from January to May, and the small amount of border trade has maintained growth momentum since April," Dedron, director of the Foreign Trade Office, was quoted as saying by Tibet Daily.

The region's total value of foreign trade exports reached 700 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48 percent, while imports reached 760 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 209 percent, which was 183.5 percentage points higher than the national average. Tibet ranked first in China.

Over the period, the region's export value in small border trade was 540 million yuan, an increase of 74 percent, accounting for 36.8 percent of the total import and export volume.

"From the perspective of countries, the volume of imports and exports between Tibet and Germany reached 630 million yuan, while trade with Nepal reached 570 million yuan, up 66.2 percent year-on-year and accounting for 38.7 percent of the total import and export trade," Dedron said.