Hunan Province has maintained a good economic and trade cooperation with the “Belt and Road” countries. Imports and exports grew rapidly this year. The customs data shows that, between January and July, Hunan had completed bilateral trade of 77.8 billion yuan with the “Belt and Road” countries, increasing by 20.6% over last year.

ASEAN remained Hunan’s largest trading partner of the countries along the “Belt and Road” route. The bilateral import and export trade volume reached 42.18 billion yuan in the first 7 months, increasing by 36.4%, and accounting for more than half of the trade between Hunan and the “Belt and Road” counties. 

In the first 7 months, the volume of bilateral trade between Hunan and the “Belt and Road”countries reached 60.95 billion yuan, up 8.7%. Mechanical and electrical products were the major exported goods, while labor intensive product export declined. The import volume was 16.85 billion yuan, up 99.5%. The major imported goods included mechanical and electrical, hi-tech, and agricultural products.

According to custom analysis, the industrial complementation between Hunan and the “Belt and Road” countries has given an impetus to mechanical and electrical product exports. The countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” route, such as ASEAN and India, have become new global production base for labor intensive enterprises which hold a large demand for mechanical and electrical products. Hunan, a strong supplier and manufacturer of mechanical equipment, has maintained close contacts with these countries and regions, and mainly exported boiler, machine, mechanical appliance and parts, electrical motor, electrical device and components, and optical, metering, and medical apparatus and instruments.

Beyond that, the national “new infrastructure” plan has brought new drivers for equipment import. Hunan enterprises, such as Zoomlion and Sany, have a demand for imported construction equipment. Between January and July, Hunan has imported mechanical and electrical products of 8.55 billion yuan, increasing by 4.3 times year on year.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.  

Translator: Pang Yuehui  

Chinese source: hunan.voc.com.cn