A worker adjusts a machine at a silk manufacturing workshop in Hai’an, a county-level city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province, on March 20. [Photo/VCG]

The city of Nantong, Jiangsu province reported year-on-year growth of 2.2 percent in foreign trade for the first two months of this year, with its import and export volume totaling 40.52 billion yuan ($6.05 billion).

According to statistics released by the local customs department, import and export trade with European Union member states, the United States and Japan reached 5.95 billion yuan, 5.41 billion yuan and 5.08 billion yuan, respectively, rising 18.6 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent.

Import and export trade in the private sector accounted for 43.5 percent of the city’s total foreign trade value, followed by that of foreign-invested firms and State-owned enterprises at 42.2 percent and 14.3 percent respectively.

Electromechanical, textile and petrochemical products are the city’s top three exports, together accounting for 77.3 percent of the city’s total export volume.

The city’s agricultural imports saw 26.8-percent growth during January and February, with soybean imports surging 190 percent to 580 million yuan.