In the first half of 2025, Huaihua’s foreign trade imports and exports reached RMB7.64 billion, an increase of 15.6% year on year, hitting a record high for the same period of the year in history. The city ranked among the top three in Hunan Province in terms of growth rate. Specifically, exports amounted to RMB6.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%; imports amounted to RMB1.01 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.7%.

In terms of trading partners, in the first six months of the year, Huaihua had economic and trade exchanges with 158 countries and regions, constantly expanding its “friend circle”. ASEAN remained Huaihua’s largest trading partner, with imports and exports reaching RMB1.98 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.8%. Leveraging the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, Huaihua’s trade with Africa and other emerging markets grew rapidly. In the first half of the year, imports and exports with Africa reached RMB1.41 billion, a year-on-year increase of 131.9%.

Huaihua’s foreign trade remained on a positive trajectory, and private enterprises actively pushed into international markets. In the first half of the year, the imports and exports of private enterprises in Huaihua stood at RMB7.3 billion, an increase of 18.8% year on year, accounting for 95.6% of Huaihua’s total foreign trade imports and exports during the same period. In May of this year, a batch of Zhengqing Fengtongning sustained-release tablets produced by Hunan Zhengqing Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., a private enterprise, was exported to Macau, marking the first export of Huaihua’s Chinese patent medicine.

Exports primarily included mechanical and electrical products and labor-intensive products. In the first half of the year, Huaihua exported RMB2.48 billion in mechanical and electrical products, accounting for 37.4% of total export value during the same period. The city exported RMB2.47 billion in labor-intensive products such as luggage and clothing, accounting for 37.3% of the total export value during the same period.

“Our company exported RMB3,418,000 million in bags and suitcases in the first half of the year, an increase of 307.9%,” said Zhou Zhaoping, head of Hunan Outeng Luggage Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The bag & leatherware industry is a key port industry in Huaihua. Through technological innovation and product R&D, Huaihua has continuously enhanced its brand competitiveness and become one of China’s important procurement bases for bags and suitcases.

 (Translated by Professor Yu Jie)