Suzhou releases economic performance for Jan-Feb

Suzhou recently unveiled its economic performance for the first two months of this year.

Regarding consumer spending, from January to February, the city achieved total retail sales of consumer goods of 169.59 billion yuan ($23.44 billion), marking an 11.8 percent year-on-year increase.

Notably, automobile consumption made a significant contribution, with the retail sales of automobiles increasing by 57 percent year-on-year, driving a 5 percentage point increase in the city's total retail sales of consumer goods.

Turning to foreign trade, data indicates that from January to February, the city's total import and export volume reached 388.02 billion yuan, up 13.5 percent year-on-year.

Specifically, exports totaled 235.6 billion yuan, a growth of 11.6 percent, while imports reached 152.42 billion yuan, up 16.6 percent. The import and export volume of private enterprises increased by 23.2 percent year-on-year, accounting for 39.9 percent of the total import and export volume.