(CFP Photo)

Jiangsu's foreign trade in the first half of the year amounted to 2.48 trillion yuan, a decrease of 5.3% year-on-year, and it accounted for 12.4% of the country's total in the same period, according to Nanjing Customs.

Private enterprises, a main contributor to the province's foreign trade, saw their combined imports and exports grow 6.8% year-on-year to 1.08 trillion yuan, or 43.4% of the province's total.

The import and export value of foreign-funded enterprises and state-owned enterprises hit 1.19 trillion yuan and 218.3 billion yuan, accounting for 47.8% and 8.8% of the province's total, respectively.

In the January-June period, Jiangsu's trade with EU and ASEAN reached 400.38 billion yuan and 382.42 billion yuan, showing a year-on-year increase of 1.1% and 0.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, the province's imports and exports with the United States, South Korea and Japan decreased by 8.6%, 18.6% and 8.2%, respectively, amounting to 314.2 billion yuan, 237.93 billion yuan and 193.21 billion yuan.

The total value of trade between Jiangsu and the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative reached 724.23 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of 6.1%.

In particular, the province's trade with Latin America, the Middle East and Africa hit 182.93 billion yuan, 113.51 billion yuan and 75.29 billion yuan, respectively, up 6.5%, 13.8% and 7.4% year-on-year.

Jiangsu's exports of electromechanical products amounted to 1.08 trillion yuan, accounting for 67.2% of the total export value during the same period. Among them, solar batteries, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles soared by 4.8%, 60.9% and 481% year-on-year, reaching 53.47 billion yuan, 47.5 billion yuan and 4.39 billion yuan, respectively. The exports value of cell phones, auto parts, ships reached 68.21 billion yuan, 39.34 billion yuan and 29.06 billion yuan, marking a growth of 40.3%, 21.2% and 27.2%, respectively.

Jiangsu's agricultural imports increased by 25% to 89.43 billion yuan in the first half of the year. This included the imports of soybean, edible vegetable oil and meat worth 50.88 billion yuan, 6.98 billion yuan and 5.34 billion yuan, respectively, an increase of 36.1%, 67.3% and 15.8%.