Logos of some foreign trade companies in Nantong. [Photo/Nantong Daily]

The foreign trade in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, totaled 167.4 billion yuan ($24.78 billion) in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 11.3 percent, according to statistics from Nantong Customs.

The rate of increase is 1.9 percentage points and 1.3 percentage points higher than the national and provincial averages respectively.

Affected by a new COVID-19 outbreak, Nantong's imports and exports declined 14.7 percent year-on-year to 22.27 billion yuan in April.

The city's imports and exports started picking up in May and had in June totaled 31.96 billion yuan, up 8 percent year-on-year.

Nantong's exports to members of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement in the first half of the year increased 11.3 percent year-on-year, while trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative jumped 15.6 percent year-on-year.

Exports of textiles and garments, solar cells, and integrated circuits in Nantong surged 8.3 percent, 31.5 percent and 33.5 percent year-on-year respectively.

The average foreign trade increase rate of the top 100 companies engaged in foreign trade in Nantong exceeded 30 percent and more than 80 percent of such key companies in the city experienced growth in exports.