The total value of foreign trade in Suzhou New District in East China's Jiangsu province was 282 billion yuan ($44.6 billion) from January to December in 2021, an increase of 8.8 percent year-on-year.

Exports totaled 180.15 billion yuan, up 7.5 percent, while imports totaled 101.85 billion yuan, up 11.2 percent. The trade surplus was 78.3 billion yuan, a rise of 1.5 percent.

From January to December 2021, the total import and export value of the Suzhou New District Integrated Free Trade Zone reached 126.57 billion yuan, an increase of 5.7 percent year-on-year. Exports reached 74.09 billion yuan, up 2.4 percent year-on-year, and imports reached 52.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent.

Due to Suzhou Customs' efforts in promoting the reform of tax matters, enterprises in the free trade zone enjoyed 30.12 million yuan in added-value tax deductions, up 79 percent year-on-year.

In order to speed up customs clearance, the cooperative supervision mechanism for cross-border e-commerce between Suzhou Customs in the district and Shanghai Pudong International Airport Customs was officially put into operation on April 27, 2021. After processing at Suzhou Customs, the goods can be transferred to Shanghai Pudong International Airport Customs for export. This process is 80 percent shorter than previously.

Through the new cooperative supervision mechanism, traditional enterprises will be strongly encouraged to follow the cross-border e-commerce model to clear export products and apply for tax rebates. More local products are expected to enter the global market because of this new mechanism.

In 2021, Suzhou operated 406 China-Europe freight trains transporting $2.25 billion worth of goods. Compared with 2020, the number of trains increased by 38.12 percent, while the value increased by 66.52 percent.