The vitality of foreign trade in the central and western regions is surging
In the first quarter of this year, China's foreign trade achieved a high start. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the total import and export value of goods trade in the first quarter was 11.84 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, setting a new historical high for the same period. Recently, foreign trade data from various provinces have also been released one after another, with about half of the provinces having a growth rate higher than the national average, and some provinces reaching a new historical high in import and export scale during the same period. Expert analysis suggests that new quality productivity drives the upgrading of foreign trade structure, with green high-end products becoming the core of growth. Foreign trade presents a distinct feature of both quantity and quality, which not only demonstrates strong resilience but also reflects the deep transformation of regional openness and industrial upgrading.
Various import and export highlights in different regions
The eastern coastal provinces are the "ballast stones" of China's foreign trade, continuing to play a stabilizing role in the market. In the first quarter, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Shandong provinces collectively contributed over 60% of the country's import and export growth. Among them, Guangdong ranked first in the country with an import and export scale of 2.54 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.4%, maintaining positive growth for 11 consecutive quarters, and the import volume exceeded 1 trillion yuan for the first time in a single quarter; The total import and export value of Shanghai was 1.23 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%, leading the growth rate among the strong foreign trade provinces in the east, reflecting the strong attraction of the international trade hub; Jiangsu's imports and exports reached 1.59 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, continuing the steady growth trend. Zhou Wei, Deputy Director of the Institute of America and Oceania at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that the rapid growth rate of imports and exports in major trading provinces reflects that local markets can effectively allocate resources and quickly respond to external market demands. Meanwhile, the innovation of trade models, driven by cross-border e-commerce and service trade, has created favorable conditions for the growth of foreign trade.
The foreign trade in the central region is showing an overall upward trend. Among the six provinces in central China, Anhui ranks among the top with a growth rate of 31.6%, with a total import and export value of 284.24 billion yuan, setting a new historical high for the same period. It ranks eighth in the country and first in the central and western regions, becoming a powerful footnote to the rise of central China; Henan's growth rate reached 28.7%, with imports and exports exceeding 260 billion yuan for the first time in history during the same period. The import growth rate was as high as 64.8%, demonstrating strong domestic demand expansion momentum; Hunan increased by 16.6% year-on-year, while Jiangxi increased by 16%, both maintaining a steady growth trend.
The western region contributed the biggest highlight of foreign trade in the first quarter, with several provinces showing outstanding performance and leading the country in growth rate. The total import and export value of Shaanxi in the first quarter was 192.98 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 73.7%, ranking first in the country; Chongqing's import and export growth rate is 34.3%, with an even higher import growth rate of 54.5%. Driven by the agglomeration effect of the new energy vehicle industry, the scale of foreign trade continues to expand; The import and export growth rate of Inner Mongolia is 33.7%, which is 18.7 percentage points higher than the national average, ranking fifth in the country in terms of growth rate; Ningxia's import and export growth rate is 31.5%, with an export growth rate of 28.2%, ranking sixth in the country. Gansu, Guangxi, Yunnan and Xizang all achieved positive growth, and the import and export scale of several western provinces reached a new high in the same period of history.
Li Chang'an, a special researcher at the National Institute of Opening up at the University of International Business and Economics, stated that the continuous deepening of industrial gradient transfer, the acceleration of the trend of labor-intensive and some high-tech manufacturing industries moving inland, coupled with the continuous release of policy dividends such as the Western Land Sea New Corridor, China Europe freight trains, and the opening of border ports, have jointly promoted the high-speed expansion of foreign trade in the central and western regions. Hong Yong, Associate Researcher at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that China's foreign trade spatial layout is undergoing changes and will gradually form a new pattern of "stable scale along the coast, strong manufacturing in the central region, expansion of channels in the western region, and opening up in the border areas" in the future.
Outstanding performance of high-tech products
Currently, China's foreign trade growth is mainly driven by advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries. In the first quarter, the export of mechanical and electrical products in China reached 4.34 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%, accounting for 63.4% of the total export value; The export of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, wind power equipment and other products continues to maintain rapid growth. From a local perspective, the export of integrated circuits, lithium batteries, and ships in Guangdong Province has grown rapidly; Computer components, electrical equipment, and "new three samples" have become the main sources of incremental growth in Jiangsu Province; The export performance of automobiles (including chassis) in Anhui Province is particularly outstanding, with a total of 437000 units exported, an increase of 118.8% year-on-year, and the export growth of high-tech products exceeding 50%.
Zhang Linshan, a researcher at the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, analyzed that the core driving force of foreign trade growth in various regions has shifted from traditional labor-intensive products to high-end, intelligent, and green products, and the characteristics of deep integration between new quality productivity and foreign trade are significant. Hong Yong stated that China's foreign trade competition is shifting from "cost competition" to "industry chain competition," "technology competition," and "supply chain organizational capability competition. The key to determining regional foreign trade competitiveness in the future is no longer just low-cost processing capabilities, but advanced manufacturing systems, industrial chain integrity, research and development capabilities, and global delivery capabilities.
Foreign trade and domestic industrial upgrading are deeply interconnected. Hong Yong stated that the import growth rate in the first quarter was 19.6%, significantly higher than the export growth rate, reflecting that the current foreign trade growth is not only dependent on external demand, but also synchronized with domestic industrial upgrading, equipment updates, and manufacturing expansion. In the first quarter, the import of semiconductor equipment and CNC machine tools in Shanghai grew rapidly, while the import of high-end equipment and key components in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places maintained growth, which means that the linkage between imports and exports will be further strengthened in the future.
The diversification of market layout continues to deepen, and the dividends of emerging markets are accelerating. Zhang Linshan believes that all regions continue to promote the market diversification strategy, with significant trade growth in emerging markets such as the countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road", RCEP member countries, and Africa, effectively hedging the fluctuations of traditional markets. In the first quarter, China's import and export to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" totaled 6.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.2%, accounting for 51.2% of the total import and export value; Imports and exports to ASEAN and Latin America both increased by 15.4%, imports and exports to Africa increased by 23.7%, and imports and exports to the European Union and the United Kingdom increased by 14.6% and 13.1% respectively. At the regional level, Shaanxi's import and export to countries jointly building the "the Belt and Road" increased by 86%, accounting for 55.9% of the province's total import and export value, and its import and export to ASEAN increased by 89.9% year on year; In the first quarter, Guangdong's imports and exports to Africa amounted to 84.98 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.7%, with Guangzhou accounting for 1/4 of the province's imports and exports to Africa.
At the same time, the major foreign trade provinces in the eastern region continue to deepen their cultivation of developed economies and emerging markets, forming a market pattern of "multi-point layout and risk diversification".
Effectively cope with external environmental uncertainty
Behind the impressive achievements, the development of foreign trade in various regions still faces many challenges and problems.
The uncertainty of the external environment continues to intensify. The intensification of geopolitical conflicts and the turmoil in the Middle East have led to increased shipping risks in the Strait of Hormuz, severe fluctuations in international oil prices, and disruptions to global logistics and supply chain order. Meanwhile, global trade growth is expected to slow down, with the World Trade Organization predicting a growth rate of only 1.9% for global goods trade volume in 2026.
With the rise of trade protectionism, some countries' trade barriers against China's new energy and high-end manufacturing products continue to increase, and the compliance risks faced by enterprise exports are rising. The industries with the fastest growth in China's foreign trade, such as new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, and high-end equipment, are also the areas where international trade frictions are most concentrated. Hong Yong stated that in the future, overseas markets may further strengthen carbon border rules, rules of origin, technical standards, data security requirements, and subsidy investigations. The competition in foreign trade is gradually shifting from product competition to rule competition. Some enterprises still have problems such as insufficient international certification capabilities, weak overseas localization service capabilities, and incomplete international compliance systems. Only by quickly filling in the gaps in rules and services can we achieve sustained high growth.
Li Chang'an stated that the current high-speed growth momentum of the "new three types" of exports has covered multiple provinces such as Anhui, Henan, Guangxi, Hubei, and Zhejiang. It is necessary to further guide enterprises to establish after-sales service networks and localized production bases overseas, extend from simply exporting products to exporting industrial chains, and enhance brand premiums and resistance to trade barriers.
Jingwei believes that in the process of foreign trade development, a value driven rather than cost driven model should be formed to enhance the leading role of global industry standards and development directions, play a more critical role in global trade, and enable China's new technologies and solutions to be recognized by all parties, reducing concerns and worries.
To maintain the growth momentum of foreign trade, it is necessary to further expand the development space of foreign trade. Zhang Linshan suggested that we should continue to deepen our efforts to jointly build the markets of the "the Belt and Road" countries and RCEP member countries, make good use of the zero tariff policy for Africa, and increase our efforts to explore emerging markets such as Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe; Build online and offline exhibition platforms to support enterprises in "going global" to participate in exhibitions and expand markets; Establish a sound mechanism for responding to trade frictions, guide enterprises to enhance their compliance management capabilities, effectively respond to overseas trade barriers, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises.
At the same time, various regions need to continuously optimize the business environment and improve the international logistics system. Deepen the reform of cross-border trade facilitation, simplify customs clearance processes, reduce clearance costs, and improve port service efficiency; Continuously improving the construction of major logistics channels such as the China Europe freight train and the Western Land Sea New Corridor, enhancing the level of multimodal transport, and reducing logistics costs in inland areas; Establish a sound foreign trade service system, provide comprehensive services such as exchange rate hedging, compliance consulting, and market information for enterprises, and create a first-class business environment for the development of foreign trade.