Omnimedia reporter: Zhou Ziyun; correspondents: Zhang Zhuo, Xiao Wenjin, Sun Wenyue (Hunan Daily)
Huaihua City is experiencing booming development at the beginning of the new year. Foreign trade enterprises in Huaihua are working at full capacity to accelerate production and expand the market, getting off to a good start with high morale.
On February 13, workers were busy preparing mugwort raw materials amid the fragrance of mugwort in the workshop of Hunan Wuling Aiye Biotechnology Co., Ltd. located in Zhongfang County. “The first batch of products in 2025 were shipped to Vietnam and Hong Kong yesterday, with a value of over RMB5 million.” According to Zeng Qunxiong, head of the company, the company is organizing production and preparing for subsequent orders.
In 2024, the company leveraged local resource advantages and built a mugwort industrial chain integrating mugwort planting, product R&D, mugwort culture experience, health care, and agricultural tourism. It actively sought opportunities to cooperate with domestic and foreign import and export trading companies and sold mugwort incense, foot bath bags, moxa sticks and other products to countries and regions such as Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong, with foreign trade sales of about RMB14 million.
In the new year, the company is confident in bringing foreign trade sales to over RMB50 million. In addition to seizing the overseas market, the company will also systematically develop the domestic market, so as to introduce Huaihua medicinal materials to the whole nation and the whole world.
Jingzhou Chenming Bamboo and Wood Products Co., Ltd. also had a busy day. Amid the endless roars of machines, the workers in work clothes skillfully operated equipment to process and sort bamboo chopsticks. They packed the processed chopsticks, which would be shipped to all over the world.
“Over 95% of the employees are on duty, enthusiastic and energetic. We have received more than 100 overseas orders and expect to finish them at the end of May,” said Tang Jian, Chairman of the company.
Chenming Bamboo and Wood Products Co., Ltd. is a comprehensive foreign trade enterprise integrating the production, development and sales of new bamboo and wood materials. Relying on the rich mao bamboo resources in Jingzhou, the company mainly produces high-end bamboo catering supplies, which are very popular in the international market. At present, over 90% of the products are exported to Japan, the US and EU countries.
According to data from Huaihua Customs under Changsha Customs, Huaihua’s foreign trade imports and exports amounted to RMB13.76 billion in 2024, nearly tripling from 2022, and the number of registered foreign trade enterprises exceeded 1,000 for the first time. At present, Huaihua partners with 177 countries and regions in foreign trade. Its foreign trade growth rate has ranked first in Hunan Province for three consecutive years. According to Huaihua International Land Port, the number of China-Laos, China-Vietnam, and sea-rail intermodal transport trains of the city has increased from 151 in 2022 to 1,009 in 2024, and the number of China-Laos trains ranks first in central China.
（Translated by Professor Yu Jie)