Haimen reported a year-on-year growth of 13.6 percent in trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for the first quarter of 2020, according to statistics from the city's customs.

Imports and exports with BRI countries were valued at 2.13 billion yuan ($300.11 million) in the first three months, accounting for 50.1 percent of the city's total foreign trade volume during this period.

Among them, trade with Singapore, ASEAN countries and Iraq increased 3.3 percent, 5.8 percent and 144.5 percent.

During the same period, trade with European markets increased 28.2 percent to 700 million yuan, while that with the United States decreased 30.2 percent to 360 million yuan.

The total foreign trade volume in Haimen was valued at 4.25 billion yuan in the first quarter, up 5.7 percent year-on-year. The growth rate ranked third among districts and counties in Nantong.

Out of that, imports rose 45.7 percent to 770 million yuan, while exports dropped 0.4 percent to 34.8 percent.

Despite the impact brought about by the novel coronavirus outbreak, the city's foreign trade has seen a rebound in March, up 67.6 percent compared to that in February.

Statistics also revealed that large-scale equipment manufacturing firms have contributed a lot to the city's import growth.

From January to March, the import of China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co and Yanda (Haimen) Heavy Equipment Manufacturing Co was valued at 270 million yuan and 260 million yuan, accounting for 68.8 percent of the citys total imports.