Containers at Nantong Port wait to be transported. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

The foreign trade of Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province jumped 22.3 percent year-on-year to 83.62 billion yuan ($13.06 billion) in the first quarter of this year, statistics from Nantong Customs showed.

The increase was 11.6 percentage points higher than the national average and 8.3 percentage points higher than the provincial average.

The city's exports grew by 20.5 percent on a yearly basis to 53.97 billion yuan while imports increased by 25.6 percent to 29.65 billion yuan.

Nantong's four largest foreign trade partners in the January-March period were the EU, the US, ASEAN, and Japan. Foreign trades with these regions were valued at 12.3 billion yuan, 10.39 billion yuan, 9.84 billion yuan and 8.04 billion yuan respectively, growing by 20.5 percent, 29.9 percent, 12.5 percent, and 7.7 percent from a year ago.

The US took over ASEAN as the second largest trading partner of Nantong during the period.

General trade expanded by 26.8 percent to 60.82 billion yuan, accounting for 72.7 percent of the city's total foreign trade during the period.

Exports of electromechanical and labor-intensive products grew 19.6 percent and 12.2 percent year-on-year and their total value accounted for 71.2 percent of the total amount, while imports of liquefied natural gas surged 57 percent, accounting for 32.2 percent of the city's total import value.