Huzhou's gross domestic product (GDP) was valued at 178.37 billion yuan ($27.44 billion) in the first half of this year, up 2.6 percent year-on-year, according to statistics released by the Huzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics on July 25.

The growth rate was 0.1 percentage points higher than the national average.

The added value of the city's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries reached 6.49 billion yuan, 90.92 billion yuan and 80.96 billion yuan, a rise of 3.9 percent, 2.6 percent, and 2.5 percent respectively.

Its agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery industries registered a year-on-year increase of 4 percent during the period.

The added value of industrial enterprises above designated size in Huzhou expanded 3.4 percent year-on-year to 67.7 billion yuan.

Stable growth was seen in its service sector, which registered a year-on-year growth of 2.5 percent in added value from January to June.

Over the same period, the city's investment in fixed assets also recorded a 10.6-percent increase. Investment in fields including food, electrical machinery and equipment, pharmaceutical and metal products increased by 136.1 percent, 83.2 percent, 59.5 percent and 41.3 percent respectively.

Its foreign trade volume rose 1.5 percent year-on-year to 74.39 billion yuan, with exports edging up 0.8 percent to 67.98 billion yuan.

The city's retail sales of social consumer goods recorded an uptick of 0.5 percent.

Its fiscal revenue increased 8.8 percent year-on-year to 44.41 billion yuan. The general public budget revenue totaled 26.19 billion yuan, rising by 3.4 percent, while the general public budget expenditure hit 31.62 billion yuan, an uptick of 9.5 percent.

Income levels also improved. The city's overall per capita disposable income in the first half of this year increased by 5.3 percent to 32,756 yuan. Per capita disposable income of urban residents rose to 38,024 yuan, while the figure for rural residents was 24,582 yuan.