- Exports rise nearly 10% while imports slip, underscoring a widening external-demand tilt
- Suzhou and its industrial park drive outsized gains with triple-digit growth
Jiangsu’s foreign trade expanded faster than the national average in the first five months of 2026, driven by strong export momentum and a surge in high-tech manufacturing shipments, according to data from Nanjing Customs.
Total trade reached 2.33 trillion yuan ($344.5 billion), up 5.3% year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points higher than the national average, and accounting for 13% of China’s total.
Exports rose 9.6% to 1.55 trillion yuan, while imports fell 2.4% to 777.6 billion yuan.
Trade structure data showed balanced growth across channels, with general trade up 4.5% to 1.34 trillion yuan, accounting for 57.3% of total trade, while processing trade increased 5.8% to 734.97 billion yuan.
Suzhou and its iconic industrial park
Within the province, Suzhou continued to anchor external trade activity. The city recorded 1.48 trillion yuan in imports and exports, up 37.5% year-on-year, significantly outpacing the provincial average.
Growth was even more pronounced in Suzhou Industrial Park — a China-Singapore collaboration project that dated back to 1994 — which posted 659.09 billion yuan in trade value, up 110.1% year-on-year.
The zone accounted for 23.2% of Jiangsu’s total trade and 44.5% of Suzhou’s. Exports rose 107.6% to 333.97 billion yuan, while imports climbed 112.7% to 325.12 billion yuan.
In May alone, trade reached 179.5 billion yuan, up 170.7%, marking a tenth consecutive monthly record high.
Shifting export mix
Jiangsu’s export mix continued to shift toward higher-value and technology-intensive goods. In the first four months, exports of mechanical and electrical products totaled 1.05 trillion yuan, up 24.4%, contributing 16.8 percentage points to overall export growth.
Key categories included computers and components, up 41.4% to 108.47 billion yuan; electrical equipment, up 26.3% to 91.26 billion yuan.
So-called “New Three products” —electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products—which rose 31.5% to 70.77 billion yuan.
Ship exports also surged, with Jiangsu exporting 34.83 billion yuan worth of vessels in the first four months, up 90.3% year-on-year, ranking first nationwide in volume.
