Taicang Port (Photo from CFP)

From January to October this year, Suzhou’s foreign trade totaled about 1.827 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.3 percent over the same period last year, according to Suzhou Customs on November 20. This also marked the first positive growth this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Private enterprises have played an important role in stimulating the growth of imports and exports. In the ten months, they contributed to foreign trade of 467.03 billion yuan or 25.6 percent of the total, up 13.7 percent year on year.

A breakdown of the data showed Suzhou’s exports mainly went to Asia, 45.8 percent, and Europe and the US markets, 42.5 percent. The city’s imports came from mainly Asia, 74.6 percent, with the amount reaching 581.92 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 9.1 percent.

Mechanical and electrical products still dominated the city’s foreign trade. Exports of such products reached 827.45 billion yuan, accounting for 79 percent of the total exports. Imports also hit 527.3 billion yuan, 67.6 percent of the total. Among these products, integrated circuit imports increased significantly in terms of volume and values, which increased by 12.7 and 20.2 percent, respectively.