The Commerce Bureau of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture recently held a meeting to analyze the economic situation of the prefecture's commerce and open economy for the first half of 2026. From January to June, the prefecture's total foreign trade value reached one billion CNY, a year-on-year increase of 35.4%, with the growth rate ranking third in the province.

The African market performed particularly well. In the first half of the year, Xiangxi's trade with Africa reached 41.626 million CNY, an increase of 161.1%, with imports from Africa surging by 616.3%. Meanwhile, the prefecture's trade with the European Union reached 370 million CNY, up 62.4%; its imports and exports to countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative reached 240 million CNY, up 12.8%. The prefecture has established economic and trade ties with 114 countries and regions, with total utilized foreign capital exceeding 150 million CNY. Additionally, returned Hunan entrepreneurs registered 18 new companies, with cumulative paid-in capital reaching 3.54 billion CNY. An opening-up pattern with global reach from the mountainous regions is rapidly taking shape.

At the Jishou Economic Development Zone, energy storage batteries produced by a Hunan-based new energy company are about to be shipped to Nigeria. The Xiangxi Customs Authority has implemented a "smart supervision model for the packaging of exported lithium batteries," transforming the inspection of dangerous goods packaging for exported lithium batteries from "on-site inspection" to "online verification and release." The initiative helped reduce the average cargo inspection and release time from 48 hours to 0.5 hours, cutting warehousing and logistics costs by about 10%. In the first half of the year, the company's exports of lithium-ion batteries to Africa increased by 129.8% year on year.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.
 
Translator: Xiao Juan
 
Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn