Suzhou City’s foreign trade reached 1469.68 billion yuan ($214 billion) from January to August, an increase of 7.5 percent over the same period of last year, of which exports were 844.33 billion yuan, up 5.2 percent, and imports rose by 10.8 percent to 625.35 billion yuan.
Processing trade enterprises, which relied on imported materials, made a major contribution. The imports of Samsung Electronics (Suzhou) Semiconductor reached 14.31 billion yuan in August, a year-on-year increase of 60.5 percent, and this accounted for 15.5 percent of the city's monthly import.
Import and export goods through bonded logistics parks have grown rapidly. The foreign trade by bonded warehouse was 24.29 billion yuan, a rise of 8.5 percent. In the eight months, the city's import and export of processing trade was 710.28 billion yuan, up 0.6 percent.
Private enterprises have played increasing roles in the city’s foreign trade, with their import and export volume at 305.18 billion yuan, up 12.9 percent. This accounted for 20.8 percent of the city's total foreign trade, one percentage point higher over the same period of last year. Exports were 189.14 billion yuan, up 9.6 percent, and imports increased by 18.9 percent to reach 116.04 billion yuan.
In the eight months, the import and export of foreign-invested enterprises rose by 3.1 percent to 1,058.26 billion yuan, accounting for 72 percent of the city's total, of which exports were 555.54 billion yuan, down 2 percent, and imports were 502.72 billion yuan, up 9.4 percent. Meanwhile, the import and export of state-owned enterprises in the city was 106.24 billion yuan, an increase of 51.6 percent.
Suzhou’s exports to Asia outperformed Europe and the United States. In the eight months, the city exported 356.4 billion yuan of goods to the Asian region, an increase of 8.7 percent and 42.2 percent of the city's exports. The city's exports to the United States recorded 229.75 billion yuan, a rise of 2.9 percent, followed by the EU at 165 billion yuan and an increase of 2.2 percent. Exports to South America reached 37.92 billion yuan, up 6.2 percent, 17.89 billion yuan to Oceania and up 10.6 percent, and 8.15 billion yuan to Russia and up 3.1 percent.
The imports from South Korea saw a remarkable increase. In the eight months, 74.9 percent of the city's imported goods came from the Asian region, valued at 468.59 billion yuan, and this marked an increase of 11.9 percent. Among the regions, imports from South Korea were 150.92 billion yuan, up 24.5 percent and accounting for 24.1 percent of the city's total imports.
The growth rate of exports and imports of mechanical and electrical products were above the city’s average. Suzhou’s exports of mechanical and electrical products reached 652.61 billion yuan, an increase of 6.5 percent. This was 1.3 percentage points higher than the city's export average and this sector accounted for 77.3 percent of the city's total exports.
(source:jschina.com.cn)
