Between January and February, Hunan's five major international trade channels witnessed accelerated development, with popularity and quality increased. Some new products were imported to Hunan Province via the channels.

In the first two months of this year, Yueyang Chenglingji Port handled a container throughput of 154,100 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 30.13%. The China-Africa Rail-Sea Express service has recorded 99 trips and handled goods worth 748 million yuan, a year-on-year growth of 725% and 3166% respectively. The Huaihua-ASEAN freight train service has recorded 65 trips, up 829%. The China-Europe freight train service has made 171 trips. A total of 264 inbound and outbound flights were handled at Changsha Huanghua International Airport, an increase of 66%.

"Huaihua has gradually become a gathering center of ASEAN products for Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces," said Lei Mingxiong, chairman of the supervisory board of Huaihua International Land Port, adding that the export goods of Huaihua International Land Port are mainly electromagnetic bottles, rice mills, and steel plates, while the imports are mainly tapioca starch.

The tapioca starch imported from Laos to Hunan can be made into "tapioca pearls" in bubble tea, medical capsules, alcohol and other products, and the cardboard-made bases of Liuyang fireworks have gradually been upgraded to tapioca-related products that are easier to degrade. Li Shaomin, general manager of Hunan Mengmeng International Trade Co., Ltd., introduced that the company plans to purchase 30,000 tons of tapioca starch from Laos this year. Relying on the China-Laos Railway, the company will build a tapioca starch distribution center in central China in Huaihua, and use tapioca starch as raw material to produce bubble tea and other products which are to be sold to Southeast Asia. These efforts help enhance the quality of Hunan's exports.

This year, many "new faces" have appeared on the list of Hunan's imported goods. In March, tuna from Chile and wax apple from Thailand were imported through Changsha Huanghua International Airport for the first time. In February, Chile's grapes and prunes and the Philippines' iced leopard coral grouper were all "new friends" seen at Changsha Airport Port. The efficiency of customs clearance at Hunan's ports is increasingly improved, and an increasing number of goods are imported to Hunan. Consumers can now indulge in a wide range of delectable offerings.

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

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn