A vessel departs from a shipyard in Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu]

Qidong's foreign trade in the first quarter reached 10.31 billion yuan ($1.51 billion), up 85.3 percent year-on-year, with the growth rate ranking first among all districts and counties in Nantong.

From January to March, Qidong's exports totaled 6.54 billion yuan, increasing by 56 percent year-on-year, while imports amounted to 3.77 billion yuan, surging 170 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the scale of local foreign trade enterprises continues to expand. The number of those with tangible achievements reached 475, up 9.2 percent from the same period last year.

Leading enterprises continued to drive the growth of Qidong's foreign trade, as the imports and exports of the county-level city's top 20 foreign trade enterprises accounted for 80.7 percent of its total.

Qidong saw the synchronized growth of general trade and processing trade. In the first quarter, processing trade hit 5.51 billion yuan, 2.1 times the volume of last year and accounting for 53.4 percent of Qidong's total foreign trade.

Private enterprises, as the backbone of local foreign trade, recorded 5.4 billion yuan in first-quarter imports and exports, a 74.8 percent increase year-on-year and contributing more than half of Qidong's total.

During the January-March period, Qidong's exports of mechanical and electrical products were valued at 5.37 billion yuan, representing 69.7 percent year-on-year growth and accounting for 82.1 percent of its total.

Qidong's presence in international markets is also expanding. Trade with its four key partners – the European Union, ASEAN, Hong Kong, and Brazil – accounted for over 60 percent of its total. Meanwhile, cooperation with countries under the Belt and Road Initiative and with RCEP members is steadily gaining momentum.