In the first three quarters of the year, foreign trade imports and exports of Taizhou city in East China's Jiangsu province hit 99.04 billion yuan ($13.54 billion) – some 7.5 percentage points higher than the provincial growth rate.
"Taizhou's foreign trade withstood pressure and maintained a steady and positive development trend during the period," said Qiao Hualin, deputy director of Taizhou Customs.
The city's imports and exports from the processing sector saw a significant increase, surging to a total value of 34.55 billion yuan from January to September, up 36.7 percent year-on-year.
Imports and exports by Taizhou's private enterprises reached 47.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.6 percent. The top 10 leading foreign trade enterprises in the city generated total imports and exports worth 46.2 billion yuan during the period, accounting for 46.6 percent of the city's total.
What's more, the value of Taizhou's imports and exports with countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative came in at 48.72 billion yuan, up 15.6 percent on the same period last year.
Most notably, imports and exports to Liberia and Russia amounted to 12.1 billion yuan and 1.6 billion yuan, respectively – gains of 171.9 percent and 37.5 percent.
Not surprisingly, Taizhou's key products had a significant impact on its overall imports and exports.
In the first three quarters, exports of vessels built in the city's shipyards amounted to 17.56 billion yuan, leaping 59.4 percent year-on-year.
Elsewhere, solar power cells and lithium-ion battery exports generated 5.39 billion yuan and 1.26 billion yuan – respective increases of 46.9 percent and 77.7 percent.
Shipbuilding is a very lucrative industry in Taizhou. [Photo/WeChat account: tzfabu]