Container terminal at Tonghai port area in Nantong Port. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The foreign trade value of Nantong in Jiangsu province reached 112.12 billion yuan ($15.74 billion) in the third quarter, marking the first time in history that the city's quarterly foreign trade value has exceeded 100 billion yuan, statistics from Nantong Customs showed.

In the first three quarters of this year, the city's foreign trade value reached 286.05 billion yuan, up 11 percent year-on-year. The increase rate represents 3.3 and 5.7 percentage points higher than the provincial and national averages, respectively.

Containers at Nantong Port. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

During the same period, the city's exports reached 187.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.4 percent, while its imports amounted to 98.66 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent.

Regarding foreign trade trends, Nantong maintained over 32 billion yuan in import and export volume in September, and the number of the city's main players in foreign trade has surpassed 5,500 for four consecutive months since June, providing core support for foreign trade development.