An employee works at a tire company in Nantong, in East China’s Jiangsu province on April 28. [Photo/IC]

The important harbor city of Nantong in central Jiangsu province maintained steady economic growth in the first quarter. Its gross domestic product (GDP) increased 5.5 percent to 200.02 billion yuan ($29.72 billion), according to statistics released at a news conference on April 28. 

The industrial added value of companies with annual sales above 20 million yuan grew 0.5 percent, a slight recovery of 3.8 percentage points compared to that in the first two months.

The added value of the agricultural, industry and service sectors increased 1.9 percent, 5.1 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, to 5.72 billion yuan, 98.43 billion yuan and 95.87 billion yuan.

Investment in fixed assets for the period grew 6.1 percent, 4.5 percentage points higher than the average of Jiangsu province. Fixed asset investment in high-tech industry surged during the period by 27.8 percent, accounting for 22.4 percent of the total.

The first quarter also saw the signing of 31 new outbound investment projects – worth a total amount of $363 million – by Chinese companies, ranking Nantong third among cities in the province.

Investment projects mainly focused on manufacturing, construction and the service industries in 17 countries, 10 out of which are involved in China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative.

The import and export volume totaled 60.14 billion yuan, experiencing year-on-year growth of 6.8 percent. 

The total value of exports in the first quarter increased 12.8 percent to 40.09 billion yuan, with those to European Union countries and the United States up 39.1 percent and 13.9 percent, respectively.