Huaihua International Land Port bustles with activities (Photo by Zhang Zhuo/Huaihua Daily)

According to statistics from Huaihua Customs, under the supervision of Changsha Customs, the city’s total foreign trade import and export value reached 4.976 billion yuan in the first four months of this year, marking a year-on-year increase of 11.5%. The growth rate ranks among the top three in Hunan Province, while the trade scale has climbed to seventh place in the province, up three ranks compared to the same period of last year. Of this total, exports amounted to 4.44 billion yuan, up 8.1%, and imports reached 530 million yuan, a sharp rise of 51.7%.

Inside the production workshops of Hunan Outeng Luggage Manufacturing Co., Ltd., located in the Huaihua International Luggage and Leather Goods Industry Park, four production lines are running at full capacity. Workers are busy with injection molding, cutting, assembly, quality inspection, and packaging of luggage products. Chairman Zhou Zhaoping revealed that over 40 containers of luggage are shipped monthly via rail-sea intermodal transport from Huaihua International Land Port, transiting through Guangzhou Nansha Port to more than 60 countries and regions across Europe, America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

To support the high-quality development of the luggage industry, Huaihua Customs has established a “Luggage Industry Service Task Force.” The team compiles enterprise-friendly policies and promotes customs clearance, collaborating with local governments to attract 102 luggage-related industrial projects and 142 enterprises. Through initiatives such as “Delivering Policies, Solving Problems, and Optimizing Services,” the task force has addressed more than 20 issues related to customs clearance, tax rebates, and financing. Leveraging Huaihua International Land Port’s logistics advantages and cooperating with Guangzhou Nansha Customs, the team has built a “One-Port-Pass” clearance model, launching dedicated rail-sea intermodal trains tailored for luggage exports to Europe and America. In the first four months, luggage exports reached 160 million yuan, an increase of 51%.

Since the beginning of this year, private enterprises in Huaihua have shown remarkable growth, with imports and exports totaling 4.793 billion yuan, up 14.7%, exceeding the city’s overall foreign trade growth rate by 3.2 percentage points and accounting for 96.3% of the city’s total foreign trade value, further highlighting their core role in foreign trade.

Regarding trade partners, Huaihua’s imports and exports with countries participating in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative reached 2.92 billion yuan, up 27.9%. Trade with Hong Kong SAR totaled 980 million yuan, rising 19.7%. Foreign trade volume of goods with Africa surged 120.3% to 940 million yuan. Meanwhile, trade with Laos increased 33.9% to 120 million yuan.

(Translated by Yang Hong)