Foreign trade of Haimen district in Nantong rose 16.9 percent year-on-year to 9.34 billion yuan ($1.35 billion) in the first half of this year, according to the district's customs department.

Statistics show that exports in Haimen rose 10.8 percent year-on-year to 7.77 billion yuan. The growth rate was 14.6 percentage points higher than Nantong's average.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Haimen has unveiled a slew of prevention and control measures and worked to reduce the pandemic's impact on the local economy.

A series of measures have been taken to help foreign trade companies weather the global crisis, and this has in turn resulted in the better-than-expected performance in H1.

During this period, imports and exports of the private sector were valued at 6.13 billion yuan, up 21.8 percent, while those of foreign-funded companies reached 3.2 billion yuan, up 10.8 percent.

Among the district's top 20 foreign trade companies, 13 achieved a year-on-year growth of more than 50 percent.

For example, China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) Co saw a 64 percent year-on-year growth in imports and exports. Meanwhile, Nantong Longdu Home Textile Co achieved a year-on-year increase of 324.9 percent in foreign trade by adjusting its export products.

Over the first six months, trade with the ASEAN countries, the European Union, Japan and countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative also increased by 5 percent, 47.5 percent, 119.8 percent and 12.7 percent respectively.