Hunan Province imported and exported 19.599 billion CNY of goods to other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the first five months of this year. Among them, exports amounted to 14.778 billion CNY while imports 4.821 billion CNY, a year-on-year increase of 50.9%, according to the Changsha Customs. 

Between January and May this year, Hunan exported 11.563 CNY of electromechanical products to other SCO member countries, up 7.7% year on year. Among them, the exports of electric vehicles reached 480 million CNY, growing by 53%. Exports of the "old three" — cell phones, automatic data processing equipment, and household appliances — totaled 979 million CNY, an increase of 193.5%.

Hunan mainly imported bulk commodities and agricultural products from other SCO member countries. In the first five months, imports of bulk commodities grew by 13.7% year on year to 1.566 billion CNY. The imported products were metal ores and mineral sands and agricultural products, up 100.7% and 49% respectively.

Russia has been Hunan's largest trading partner among the SCO members, with a foreign trade value of 8.924 billion CNY in the first five months, accounting for 45.5% of the total. India and Kazakhstan ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Private enterprises became the main force of Hunan's import and export to other SCO member countries. A total of 1,796 enterprises in Hunan have trade records with other SCO member countries, of which 36 gained an import and export value of more than 100 million CNY.

In recent years, the customs authority has taken a number of measures to promote the expansion of economic and trade exchanges between Hunan Province and other SCO member countries. For example, the authority has guided the completion of the China-European Freight Train (Changsha) Full Container Load (FCL) Center; vigorously promoted the reform of "rapid customs clearance for inbound and outbound trains"; and, shortened the overall customs clearance time of the China-European freight train by 90% to further smooth the land passages. It has also made full use of the advantages of the Chenglingji inland waterway port and supported the opening of the Yueyang-Russia (Vladivostok) direct international waterway route. In addition, the authority has applied such facilitation supervision modes as "declaration in advance" and "direct loading and taking delivery", witnessing surging volume of imported and exported goods.

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

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn