City Introduction of Jiangsu, China: Nantong

Major Economic indicators (2007)

Source: Nantong Economic & Social Development Report 2007

Introduction

Nantong, known as a “Pearl of the River and Sea”, lies on the northern bank of the Yangtze River Delta and east of the East China Sea. It is one of the 14 port cities opened to foreign investment under China’s current policies of modernization. It is situated in the center of Jiangsu province, with Yancheng to the north, Taizhou to the west and Suzhou to the south.

Boasting 166 km of watercourse along the Yangtze River and over 20 km of coast line, Nantong port is listed as one of China’s 10 largest ports in terms of cargo throughput in 2007. The cargo throughput in Nantong Port has exceeded 124 million tons.

It is 18 km from Nantong Airport, which offers domestic flights to cities such as Beijing, Dalian, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The airport is an important cargo transfer point for Shanghai.

Economic Features

With the completion of the Su-Tong (Suzhou-Nantong) Yangtze Bridge in April 2008, the driving time from Shanghai to Nantong has been shortened to within an hour. Nantong is building itself up as a platform for Shanghai to transfer automobile, petrochemical, equipment manufacturing and electric appliance industries to, in a bid to merge with Shanghai's economy and benefit from the spillover effect of the city.

Its major industries comprise of textiles, fine chemicals and bio-pharmaceuticals, electronic information, new energy. electrical equipment, and shipbuilding. The industrial output from the major industries amounted to RMB 270 billion, contributing 67% of the city’s total industrial output. The industrial output from the equipment manufacturing industries has jumped 48.7% year-on-year to RMB 143.3 billion, accounting for 35% of the city’s total.

The port-related industries are very important to the city. In 2007, the total ship tonnage built in the city exceeded 2.74 million DWT, nearly 15% of China’s total. Cosco, the largest shipping firm in China, inaugurated its first shipyard in Nantong. It has one DWT 150,000 floating dock, one DWT 80,000 floating dock, four repair berths and 400,000m² of land area.

The foreign trade value reached US$12.8 billion in 2007, representing an increment of 27.4% over the previous year. The export value has exceeded US$9 billion. Its major export destinations include Japan (US$2.3 billion), the U.S. (US$1.4 billion), South Korea (US$418 million), Singapore (US$366 million), Hong Kong (US$381 million) and Germany (US$358 million). Exports of mechanical and electrical products were worth US$3.2 billion, making up 35.5% of the total export value, while the export of textiles and garments accounted for US$2.2 billion, nearly one fourth of the total export value of Nantong.

In 2007, it attracted over US$7.7 billion FDI, up 11.5% year-on-year, while the utilized FDI rose 21.1% year-on-year to US$3.1 billion. The utilized FDI in the state-level development zones amounted to US$681 million, accounting for one third of the city’s total.