Suzhou foreign trade exceeds 1 trillion yuan in Jan-May

Suzhou customs recently announced that the city's imports and exports rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year to 1.027 trillion yuan ($153.39 billion) in the January to May period, accounting for 6.4 percent of the country's total and 48.3 percent of the province's total.

The figure included exports of 594.59 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 6.3 percent, and imports of 432.82 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 8.9 percent.

Private enterprises saw robust growth in foreign trade, with an increase of 18.3 percent to 306.67 billion yuan in the first five months, accounting for 29.8 percent of the city's total. Foreign-invested companies realized 649.28 billion yuan in imports and exports during this period, the same as in 2021.

ASEAN, the EU, and the United States were Suzhou's three major trade partners, generating 144.58 billion yuan, 141.87 billion yuan, and 139.26 billion yuan in foreign trade, up 3.5 percent, 3.3 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Statistics also indicated that the export of mobile phones and import of integrated circuits underpinned Suzhou's foreign trade growth in the first five months. The export of mobile phones was up 42.9 percent to 69.31 billion yuan, while the import of electromechanical products rose by 13.3 percent to 292.24 billion yuan.