On July 17, the Changsha Customs authority held a press conference on Hunan's foreign trade in the first half (H1) of this year. According to statistics, the total import and export value of Hunan's foreign trade was 282.26 billion CNY in H1.

In June, Hunan's import and export volume was 45.19 billion CNY, an increase of 2.8% over the same period last year, achieving positive growth in a single month. Imports have played a significant supportive role in this regard. In the first half of the year, imports were 117.96 billion CNY, an increase of 16%. Of the total, 6.12 billion CNY were made by imports of servers and computer hosts and parts, an increase of 225.1%.

Hunan's trade with Hong Kong is growing rapidly. In the January-June period, Hunan's imports and exports with Hong Kong were 30.57 billion CNY, an increase of 19.5%. Imports expanded 213.7 % to 6.42 billion CNY. The province's trade with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 140.22 billion CNY, accounting for 49.7% of the province's total foreign trade. Trade with Africa reached 27.06 billion CNY.

The supportive role of Changsha has been strengthened. From January to June, Changsha's imports and exports stood at 135.11 billion yuan, accounting for 47.9% of the province's total. The import and export volume hit 24.37 billion yuan in June, an increase of 25.3%. Changsha has played a supportive role in stabilizing foreign trade. In the first half of the year, the foreign trade volume of Chenzhou, Yueyang and Xiangtan each exceeded 20 billion yuan.

Entity enterprises have maintained a good momentum of development. Foreign trade enterprises recorded active performances. In the first half of the year, Hunan's total number of enterprises registered with the customs authorities reached 30,178, an increase of 8.9%. Zoomlion, Xiangtan Iron & Steel, Sany Heavy Industry, Minmetals Copper, BYD, and other leading enterprises have seen a rapid growth in foreign trade.