EXPORTS and imports of foreign-funded businesses in Shanghai hit a record high last year, with an annual increase of 33.82 percent, local authorities said yesterday.

Total imports and exports of the businesses reached almost US$250 billion last year, or more than two-thirds of the city's total foreign trade, a spokesman for the Shanghai Municipal Commerce Commission said.

The trade figure was 14.7 percent higher than that of 2008, when the previous record was set, the spokesman said.

That indicated foreign-funded businesses in Shanghai have gradually walked out of the shadow of the global financial crisis and entered a new positive phase, he added.