Suzhou’s exports hit record high in October

Since the beginning of this year, Suzhou’s foreign trade has maintained a good momentum of steady growth and the structure of trade has been continuously optimized. According to statistics released by Suzhou Customs on Nov. 21, Suzhou’s foreign trade in the first 10 months of this year totaled 2,153.3 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7% over the same period last year (similarly hereinafter), and accounted for 6% and 46.7% of the country’s and the province’s total respectively. The city’s exports increased by 9.1% to 1,334.69 billion yuan, while its imports rose by 5.6% to 818.61 billion yuan. In October, Suzhou’s import and export value grew by 6.6% to 242.01 billion yuan, hitting a new high since July 2022, among which exports increased by 9.9% to a historical high of 155.57 billion yuan.

From January to October, the number of Suzhou enterprises involved in foreign trade reached 33,400, an increase of 8.8%. Among them, there were 25,800 private enterprises, up by 11.4%, the foreign trade volume of which increased by 9.6% to 845.91 billion yuan, accounting for 39.3% of the city’s total. And the number of foreign-invested enterprises was 7,400, an increase of 0.5%, whose import and export value grew by 7.9% to 1,228.19 billion yuan, accounting for 57% of the city’s total, which remain a major engine of Suzhou’s foreign trade growth.

Suzhou has made remarkable achievements in expanding trade with countries jointly building the Belt and Road. In the January-October period, its imports and exports with Belt and Road partner countries reached 821.2 billion yuan, up by 13.5%, 5.7 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the city’s foreign trade in the same period, accounting for 38.1% of the city’s total. The trade with the ASEAN and United Arab Emirates increased by 9.2% and 54.2% respectively. And exports to Belt and Road countries accounted for 36% of the city’s total.

From January to October, the exports of Suzhou’s equipment manufacturing industry with higher added value was 1,035.15 billion yuan, an increase of 11.5%, accounting for 77.6% of the city’s total, 1.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year. The exports of computer and communication products, general equipment, metal products, and automobiles increased by 14.7%, 11.3%, 24.6% and 39.4%, respectively, generating 97 percentage points of growth for the city’s exports in the same period. Meanwhile, the import value of mechanical and electrical products reached 574.27 billion yuan, an increase of 12%, accounting for 70.2% of the city’s total.

In the first 10 months of this year, Suzhou’s import and export volume for general trade saw a rapid growth. In October, the city’s exports grew by 9.9%, hitting a record high; the exports of processing trade grew by only 1.2%, but that of general trade surged by 27.7%, accounting for 39.3% of the city’s total, 5.5 percentage points higher than the same period last year. It helped generate 9.4 percentage points of growth for the city’s exports, of which cross-border e-commerce exports surged by 112.7%.