Hunan's share of overall national trade with Africa has further increased. The Changsha Customs statistics showed that, in the first four months this year, Hunan's import and export volume to African counties grew by 90.4% year on year to 22.04 billion yuan. This volume accounted for 3.4% of the national total, 1.3 percentage points higher than last year.

In the first four months, Hunan had trade contacts with 58 countries and regions in Africa. South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt were the three largest trade partners of Hunan Province. The trade with South Africa accounted for 21.1% of the province's total with all African countries, while that with Nigeria and Egypt respectively soared 182.5% and 282.5% year on year.

Private enterprises had played a positive role in the trade with Africa. Between January and April, the number of Hunan enterprises that had actual import and export performance with Africa increased by 18% over last year, reaching 1,558 in total. Among them, 1,471 private enterprises' import and export volume with Africa hit 20 billion yuan, accounting for more than 90% of Hunan's total.

Exports of superior products such as mechanical and electrical and labor-intensive goods had surged. In the first four months, Hunan exported 6.22 billion yuan of mechanical and electrical products to Africa, up 191.6% year on year and accounting for over one third of the provincial total exports to African countries. The exports of textile and garment and other labor-intensive products reached 5.58 billion yuan, rising 146.3%. The exports of hi-tech products hit 880 million yuan, surging 144.4% on a yearly base. 

Imports of agricultural products, natural rubber, and food had grown more than 10 times. In the first four months, Hunan had imported 150 million yuan of agricultural products from Africa, increasing by 16.6 times.

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

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn