(CFP Photo)

Jiangsu's foreign trade in the first two months reached 850.44 billion yuan, marking a 13.4% increase year-on-year, which is 4.7 percentage points higher than the national average, and accounting for 12.9% of China's total, according to Nanjing Customs.

In breakdown, the province’s exports and imports were 541.63 billion yuan and 308.81 billion yuan, respectively, registering increases of 11.9% and 16.2%.

During these two months, the province’s processing trade totaled 271.88 billion yuan, showing a year-on-year growth of 13.6%, while trade in bonded logistics areas surged by 18.9% to 81.39 billion yuan.

Private businesses have played a bigger role in fueling the growth of foreign trade. In this period, the trade value of private enterprises reached 396.85 billion yuan, an increase of 28.1%, representing 46.7% of the provincial total. Meanwhile, the trade value of foreign-invested enterprises amounted to 388.1 billion yuan, an expansion of 3.8%.

Notably, the province’s trade with countries along the Belt and Road Initiative totaled 377.3 billion yuan, an increase of 17.8% compared to the same period last year and accounting for 44.4% of the provincial total.