Suzhou remains strong magnet for Japanese investors

Suzhou was home to 2,973 Japanese enterprises in 2021, and Japan has become its third-largest source of foreign investment.

Statistics show that by the end of 2021, the accumulated amount of Japanese capital for actual use in Suzhou had reached $13.64 billion, accounting for 53.9 percent of Jiangsu province's total.

A total of 44 global top 500 Japanese enterprises are carrying out a combined 172 projects in the city, involving industries such as automobiles and parts, equipment manufacturing, e-communications, biopharmaceuticals, and fine chemical engineering.

Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou New District, and Kunshan have developed into hubs for Japanese investments, while Changshu, Xiangcheng district and Wuzhong district are seeing increasing investment from Japan.

For example, Mitsubishi Chemical Performance Polymers (China) Co, which has been operating in SND for 20 years, specializes in high-performance polymers and employs around 120 people. In 2021, the company's output value reached 357 million yuan ($52.8 million).

Its parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical, which is headquartered in Japan, is a global top 500 multinational conglomerate involved in chemicals, healthcare and industrial gas. The company has introduced an automotive R&D production line in SND so as to develop high-performance elastomers for cars. The line will be put into operation later this year.

Japan is also the sixth largest trading partner of Suzhou, with the total value of imports and exports between the two places expanding 12 percent year-on-year to $33.56 billion last year, accounting for 8.6 percent and 49.8 percent of the city's and provincial totals, respectively.