Anhui crosses trillions, looking at the "quality" change of foreign trade

At the beginning of the Chinese New Year, at the Wuhu Port International Container Terminal, cranes roared and transport vehicles shuttled back and forth, creating a hot scene. Hundreds of domestically produced cars are about to embark on a voyage to Europe.

This busy scene is a vivid footnote to the leap of Anhui's foreign trade. In 2025, the total import and export value will exceed one trillion yuan for the first time, becoming the first province (municipality directly under the central government) in central China and the ninth province (municipality) in China to break through one trillion yuan in foreign trade. Among them, automobile exports are particularly impressive - Anhui has become the first province in China to achieve an annual export volume of over 1 million vehicles.

The strong performance of automobile exports is a microcosm of the continuous optimization of Anhui's foreign trade structure. Since the 14th Five Year Plan, the proportion of the export value of mechanical and electrical products to the total export value of the province has increased from 59% at the end of the 13th Five Year Plan to over 70%; During the same period, the proportion of labor-intensive product exports to the total export value of the province decreased to less than 10%.

Between rising and falling, a clear trajectory is outlined for the industrial chain to leap towards the high-end of the value chain, and the quality, grade, and added value of exported products continue to improve.

The effective improvement of quality is driving the growth of quantity. Looking back, the scale of Anhui's foreign trade imports and exports has increased from 545.15 billion yuan at the end of the 13th Five Year Plan period to 1013.56 billion yuan by 2025, continuously crossing five hundred billion level steps. The total value of foreign trade has risen from 13th to 9th place in the country, ranking first in the central region, with an average annual growth rate of over 12%.

Against the backdrop of the divergence of global economic growth drivers and the rise of trade protectionism, this achievement demonstrates the resilience of foreign trade. In the view of Zhou Rongqiu, the director of Hefei Customs, this "step-by-step progressive" upward curve is a vivid trajectory for the upward and optimal development of Anhui's foreign trade.

The increasingly active foreign trade entities are supporting the steady progress of foreign trade. At present, the number of enterprises with import and export performance in the province has reached 13000, an increase of nearly 4000 compared to the end of the 13th Five Year Plan. More and more foreign trade enterprises are fighting against the storm, innovating and managing diligently, consolidating the basic foundation of foreign trade and further stimulating the vitality of foreign trade development.

The circle of friends in foreign trade is expanding, with trading partners spread all over the world. In 2025, the total trade value between Anhui Province and the countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" will reach 550.33 billion yuan, accounting for 54% of the total trade value of the province, an increase of 8 percentage points over the end of the "13th Five Year Plan"; Anhui Province maintains double-digit growth in imports and exports to emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America, and Africa, and shares development opportunities with the world with a more open attitude.