Taicang's foreign trade in the first three quarters amounted to 90.57 billion yuan ($12.76 billion), with that in September growing by 5.5 percent year-on-year to 11.5 billion yuan.

Building on this momentum, Taicang is forging ahead in foreign trade in the fourth quarter. Striving to win the annual "final battle", foreign trade companies across the city are speeding up production and competing for orders.

Safety shoes of Saina (Suzhou) Security Products Co. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]

Saina (Suzhou) Security Products Co, a maker of safety shoes, is a prime example. From January to September, the company, a long-time supplier for the overseas high-end market, saw its foreign trade increase by 12.6 percent.

It is accelerating its manufacturing pace, with its daily output reaching 8,000 pairs during peak times. Its shoes are set to be sold to Australia, Western Europe, and Northern Europe.

"Previously, the delivery period spanned four to five months. However, it has now been shortened to two to three months, or even less," said Saina's general manager Pan Shengdao. To ensure timely delivery, the company has streamlined its processes by securing pre-orders and preparing inventory in advance.

Meanwhile, foreign-invested enterprises are making great efforts. Chiron Machine Tools (Taicang) Co, a subsidiary of Germany's Chiron Group and a manufacturer of numerical control machine tools, witnessed a year-on-year rise of about 28 percent in imports.

Wang Yueqiu, the company's production manager, explained that the imported numerical control machine tools from their German parent company come in a wider variety of types and can be applied more comprehensively.

As a core part of industrial and supply chains, the company aims to foster new quality productive forces and is advancing technologies to enter new emerging markets like medical health and aerospace.