Hunan's imports and exports with ASEAN reached 101.27 billion CNY in 2025, marking a 2.8% increase year on year. This comprised 63.28 billion CNY in exports and 37.99 billion CNY in imports, the Changsha Customs Authority announced on January 27, 2026.

Changsha and Yueyang are the primary cities for Hunan's trade with ASEAN, collectively accounting for 71.7% of the province's total trade value with ASEAN during the same period. In terms of exports, Changsha exported goods worth 38.95 billion CNY to ASEAN, marking a 24.3% increase and accounting for over 60% of the total. Regarding imports, Yueyang and Changsha imported goods worth 17.95 billion CNY and 13.69 billion CNY respectively from ASEAN, collectively representing over 80% of the total imports.

Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam led as Hunan's top three ASEAN trading partners. Malaysia's trade with Hunan was 25.47 billion CNY, maintaining its position as Hunan's largest trading partner. Hunan's trade with Indonesia and Vietnam grew 30.5% and 26.5% to 23.17 billion CNY and 23.08 billion CNY, respectively.

Hunan's imports were mainly energy, minerals, and other bulk commodities, as well as rubber and agricultural products, while exports were mechanical and electrical products and the "new three" products—electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and photovoltaic products. In 2025, Hunan's imports of crude oil, coal and lignite, and metal ores and mineral sands from ASEAN increased 23.7%, 6.6%, and 9.2%, respectively. Agricultural product imports rose 41.4% to 3.82 billion CNY, including 900 million CNY of palm oil—a product with no imports during the same period last year. Concurrently, Hunan's exports of mechanical and electrical products to ASEAN totaled 40.81 billion CNY, rising 23.6% and accounting for over 60% of total exports. Exports of the "new three" products such as electric vehicles surged 460% to 5.81 billion CNY.

On January 1, 2026, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) marked its fourth anniversary of its entry into force. On October 28, 2025, China and ASEAN formally signed the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) 3.0 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This milestone signified the expansion of regional economic integration between the two sides from traditional trade and investment liberalization and facilitation to emerging areas, including the digital and green economies, as well as standards alignment. The Customs authorities recommend that Hunan foreign trade enterprises leverage the synergistic and upgraded institutional effects created by both the CAFTA 3.0 Upgrade Protocol and RCEP. This includes deepening cooperation with ASEAN in industrial and supply chains, promoting coordination between Hunan bonded logistics parks and ASEAN ports, and further reducing costs and enhancing efficiency for enterprises.

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

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn