An aerial view of a marine manufacturing site in Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

Qidong's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 73.56 billion yuan ($10.25 billion) in the first half of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent, according to the Qidong statistics bureau.

During this period, the city’s economy recovered, with retail sales of consumer goods expanding 12.6 percent to 26.08 billion yuan.

The city's imports and exports were valued at 19.78 billion yuan, a surge of 31.9 percent year-on-year.

Since the beginning of the year, the city's marine engineering enterprises have delivered a large number of high-end marine products, stimulating the growth of the city’s exports.

"In recent years, the company has been exploring international markets. In the first half of the year, the company received orders worth more than 6 billion yuan," said Su Fei, vice general manager of Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering Co Ltd.

To spur foreign trade growth, the city helped 63 enterprises participate in the Canton Fair and helped more than 10 electric power tool enterprises participate in a hardware exhibition in Turkey and other related exhibitions.

Meanwhile, the city's fixed asset investment increased by 7.4 percent year-on-year. Investment in the service industry increased by 33 percent, boosting the city's overall social investment by 14 percentage points.