Imports and exports in Qidong, Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, were valued at 11.11 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in the first quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 38.5 percent, according to the Qidong commerce bureau.

The city's exports reached 9.48 billion yuan, up 50.7 percent year-on-year.

The city's new energy sector played an important role in the foreign trade growth, with the sector seeing imports and exports worth 1.26 billion yuan during the period.

The delivery of marine shipbuilding products also helped boost the city's foreign trade export growth.

The city's offshore shipbuilding sector has gathered a number of key enterprises such as Qidong Cosco Marine Engineering Co Ltd and Sinopacific. From January to March, the sector's import and export value totaled 7.61 billion yuan, a surge of 170.79 percent year-on-year.

A port in Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]