Nantong Customs officers inspects foreign trade products in the city. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The foreign trade of Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province reached a record 37.82 billion yuan ($5.55 billion) in July, a year-on-year increase of 33.6 percent, statistics from Nantong Customs showed.

Exports climbed 23.8 percent year-on-year to a record 25.49 billion yuan while imports surged 59.5 percent year-on-year to 12.33 billion yuan.

In the first seven months of this year, the city's foreign trade value totaled 205.22 billion yuan, up 14.9 percent year-on-year. The rate of increase is 4.5 percentage points and 3.4 percentage points higher than national and provincial averages respectively.

Exports during this period were valued at 134.97 billion yuan during the period, up 11.2 percent year-on-year, and its imports amounted to 70.25 billion yuan, a 22.6 percent year-on-year increase.

Nantong saw its trade with ASEAN, the EU, the United States, and Japan increase 19.8 percent, 13.6 percent, 11.7 percent, and 6.5 percent year-on-year respectively from January to July. Its trade with these four countries and regions accounted for 49.1 percent of the total foreign trade during the same period.

Nantong's trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative jumped 27.6 percent year-on-year while its trade with members of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement grew 24.2 percent year-on-year in the Jan-July period.

Over the period, Nantong's exports of mechanical and electrical products and chemicals grew 8.8 percent and 54.9 percent yearly to 61.81 billion yuan and 18.55 billion yuan respectively.

Its imports of edible vegetable oil, natural gas, and integrated circuits saw year-on-year increases of 54.2 percent, 45.3 percent, and 23.6 percent respectively in the first seven months.