In the first two months of this year, Suzhou recorded total foreign trade of 514.5 billion yuan, up by 27.3% year-on-year. This represented 6.7% of the national total and 49.8% of the provincial total, up by 0.5 and 3 percentage points respectively. The city contributed 9.2% and 64.7% to national and provincial foreign trade growth. Of this total, exports reached 316.38 billion yuan, increasing 25%, while imports rose 31.1% to 198.12 billion yuan.

High-tech products were the main driver of foreign trade growth. In the first two months, imports and exports of high-tech products totaled 306.94 billion yuan, up 46.8%, with their share rising 7.9 percentage points to 59.7%. Exports of transformers and wires and cables for the power sector grew by 53.7% and 29.6% respectively, while lithium battery exports for energy storage surged 58.9%. In emerging industries, exports of industrial robots and pharmaceuticals jumped 2.9-fold and 2.3-fold respectively.

Meanwhile, trade with Belt and Road partner countries reached 257.83 billion yuan, up 50.7%. Trade with ASEAN and the EU increased by 35.8% and 32.4% respectively, reflecting steady progress in market diversification.