Nantong - A Rising City on the Yangtze River
Nantong, in Jiangsu province, is surrounded by water on three sides. It lies on the northern bank of the Yangtze River estuary, opposite the metropolis of Shanghai.

With an administrative area covering 8,001 sq. km. and a population of 7.8 million of whom 600,000 are in the urban areas, Nantong is an important economic centre of the Yangtze basin, a key communications hub linking the south and north of Jiangsu province and a modern industrial and trading city. It was one of the first port cities in China to be opened up (1984).

A Unique Geographical Location
Nantong’s jurisdiction includes 230 km. of the Yangtze River and 206 km. of the Yellow Sea coastline. Over 30 km. of the riverbank and about 100 km. of the seacoast are suitable for the development of 10,000 tonnage deepwater berthing facilities.

The existing Port of Nantong, one of China’s ten largest ports, is ranked among the very best open ports between itself and the mouth of the Yangtze River – some 196 km. distant. It comprises 24 wharves, including container wharves, with capacity up to 10,000 tons and upwards of 175 overseas ports, in 65 countries, as well as 12 international container lines. The harbour area is the largest base in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River for transshipment of oil products and liquid chemicals.

Implementation of the national policy - the “Yangtze Strategy” - with Nantong Port as an important component part of the Shanghai international maritime centre, offers the city an unprecedented opportunity to develop its economy. These prospects are further enhanced by the dredging of the Yangtze River deep waterway, the completion of the Northern Jiangsu Railway and the Yangtze River tunnel as well as plans for the opening of the airport for international flights.

Industry
Textiles and garments are the dominant industrial sectors in Nantong. The textiles industry embraces cotton, wool, linen, silk and chemical fibres and covers the whole process from spinning and weaving to printing and dyeing. There is a great variety of cotton weaving, wool weaving, knitting and textile machinery and 1,000,000 spindles. Nantong’s annual output of garments excesses 100 million pieces.

Foreign investment is actively encouraged in the following areas:
- High counts and high-density cotton or fabrics
- Decorative fabrics and technical textiles
- Wool-like and silk-like products
- T/N super micro conjugate-spun fiber and finished fabrics
- Functional and differential synthetic fiber
- Advanced textile machinery, accessories and components

Foreign investors in Nantong include Marubeni, IGI, Bayer and Hoechst. Some 3,000 foreign-invested projects have been approved and some of them are among the top profit-earners in Jiangsu province – one of China’s wealthiest provinces. Total foreign investment to date in Nantong exceeds US$4 billion. Overall, profits earned by non-State sector firms in Nantong have been increasing in recent years by more than 50% a year.