According to statistics released by Suzhou Customs on June 17, Suzhou’s foreign trade in the first half of this year totaled 1,231.69 billion yuan, an increase of 9.2% over the same period last year (similarly hereinafter), and accounted for 5.8% and 45.9% of the country’s and the province’s total respectively. The city’s exports increased by 9.9% to 763.22 billion yuan, while its imports rose by 7.9% to 468.47 billion yuan. In June, Suzhou’s import and export value grew by 3.7% to 213.04 billion yuan, among which exports increased by 10% to 134.87 billion yuan.
From January to June, the import and export volume for general trade reached 526 billion yuan, accounting for 42.7% of the city’s total, 0.7 percentage points higher than last year. Meanwhile, imports and exports of processing trade accounting for 41.9% of the city’s total. And imports and exports of bonded logistics reached 177.14 billion yuan, up by 15.5%, and exports through market procurement trade stood at 8.08 billion yuan, an increase of 2.6%.
In the first 6 months, the foreign trade volume of private enterprises increased by 13.6% to 477.39 billion yuan, accounting for 38.8% of the city’s total and generating 5.1 percentage points of growth for the city’s foreign trade. Among the top 100 foreign trade enterprises in Suzhou, the number of private enterprises increased from 26 in the first half of last year to 32 this year, having become a new driving force for import and export growth.
Statistics show that in the first half of this year, Suzhou’s imports and exports with RCEP trading partners were 453.84 billion yuan, up by 13%, accounting for 36.8% of the city’s foreign trade and generating 4.6 percentage points of growth for the city’s total, of which imports grew by 16.9% to 226.94 billion yuan. In the same period, the city’s foreign trade with emerging markets such as the Middle East, Mexico and India increased by 10.6%, 15.9% and 16.7%, respectively.