Workshop of a manufacturer in Nantong. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The economy in Nantong, Jiangsu province, has seen continued recovery and improvement in the first two months of this year, according to the local municipal bureau of statistics.

The city experienced rapid growth in industrial manufacturing and investment, a slight increase in consumer market performance, and continuous recovery in transportation.

From January to February, the added value of industries above designated size in Nantong expanded by 12.1 percent year-on-year. Corresponding values of the five key industries in the city – steel, chemical fiber, chemical engineering, dedicated devices, and general equipment increased 11.4 percent, 39.5 percent, 20.7 percent, 13.5 percent and 12.4 percent respectively from the previous year.

Nantong's investment in fixed assets grew 4.3 percent year-on-year, and industrial investment was up 5.7 percent in the Jan-Feb period.

In the first two months of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods stood at 81.06 billion yuan ($11.23 billion), up 2.8 percent year-on-year, while online retail sales of goods registered a year-on-year increase of 36.1 percent, reaching 2.42 billion yuan.

The freight volume in Nantong rose 16.9 percent year-on-year to 38.33 million metric tons while its passenger traffic surged by 61.6 percent from last year to 6.04 million trips from January to February. The Nantong Xingdong International Airport handled 642,000 passengers during the same period, a year-on-year increase of 43.1 percent.