The reporter learned from Hengyang Customs that the total import and export value of our city in 2023 was 44.61 billion yuan, ranking third in the province. Among them, exports were 28.25 billion yuan, imports were 16.36 billion yuan, and the trade surplus was 11.89 billion yuan.

In 2023, under the multiple pressures of sluggish external demand and high foreign trade base in the previous year, the city has taken multiple measures to tackle the difficulties, made every effort to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, diversified its trading partners, expanded its foreign trade "circle of friends" to 176 countries and regions, and created an open engine to promote high-quality economic and social development.

In the case of decreased demand in traditional markets such as Europe and the United States, more and more enterprises in our city have taken advantage of the Belt and Road Initiative to expand cooperation with emerging markets, seek new market space and strive for new growth. Hengyang's foreign trade "circle of friends" is expanding, and the Belt and Road Initiative accounts for half of this circle of friends. Specifically, imports and exports to ASEAN reached 7.78 billion yuan, an increase of 25.8%; the import and export to RCEP reached 10.3 billion yuan, an increase of 11.2%; the import and export of the countries jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative reached 23.06 billion yuan, an increase of 11.8%, accounting for 58.5% of the total foreign trade value.

As an important opening-up platform, the trade scale of Hengyang Comprehensive Bonded Zone continues to grow. In 2023, the total import and export value increased by 6.7%, accounting for nearly 50% of the city's total import and export value. The total volume remained the third in the province and the growth was the first in Hunan Province.

In terms of import and export channels, our city accounted for 63.6% of imports and exports through waterway transportation last year. At the same time, the capacity and quality of China-Europe freight trains were further expanded, and the import and export of railway transportation increased by 267.9%. Among the import and export goods, the import of metal ores and ore sands grew rapidly, with the import volume increasing by 12.9% in 2023.

It is worth noting that, with the introduction of the China (Hengyang) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone Implementation Plan last year, our city seized the opportunity and made full use of various convenience policies.  The 9710 direct export, 9610 goods collection model, 1210 bonded e-commerce, and 9810 overseas export warehousing business of cross-border e-commerce have been successively launched, and the bonded online shopping business of cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly. According to statistics, in 2023, the Hengyang cross-border e-commerce bonded online shopping (1210) entered the zone in 81 batches, with a total value of 36.5 million yuan. The second-line exit bonded verification and endorsement list totaled 254,000 cases, with a tax collection of 1.749 million yuan.

Translator: Jing