BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), known as the "new third board," had more than 227 billion yuan (about 35 billion U.S. dollars) in turnover in 2017.

The figure is an 18.7 percent increase on 2016, when total transactions on the board reached 191.2 billion yuan.

A total of 1,467 new small and medium-sized enterprises debuted on the NEEQ last year, a sharp drop of 70.8 percent from 2016, taking the total number of small and medium-sized enterprises on the NEEQ to 11,630.

The NEEQ Market Making Component Index ended 2017 at 993.65 points.

The board was launched in early 2013 to supplement the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, by serving small and medium-sized enterprises.

It is regarded as as an easy financing channel for small businesses, with low costs and simple listing procedures.