Ningxia Achieves Strong Start in Foreign Trade with 38.1 Billion Yuan in Import-Export Value, Up 23.9% YoY in First Two Months

China News, Yinchuan, March 12 (Xinhua) — Data released by Yinchuan Customs on March 12 shows that Ningxia achieved a robust opening in foreign trade during the first two months of 2026, with the region's total import-export value reaching 3.81 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.9%. Exports totaled 2.94 billion yuan, up 25.6% year-on-year, while imports reached 0.87 billion yuan, up 18.7% year-on-year. All three indicators—total trade, exports, and imports—grew faster than the national average.

Driven by both policy support and market forces, Ningxia's foreign trade entities have continued to unleash vitality, forming a favorable pattern with private enterprises and state-owned enterprises driving growth together. Private enterprises, as the main force in foreign trade, achieved an import-export volume of 3.40 billion yuan in the first two months, up 39.9% year-on-year, accounting for nearly 90% of the region's total foreign trade value. State-owned enterprises saw their import-export volume increase by 21.8% year-on-year, playing an important supporting role in ensuring energy and resource supplies and enhancing industrial chain resilience.

Meanwhile, Ningxia's international market layout has been continuously optimized, demonstrating a development trend of diversified progress and enhanced resilience. In the first two months, Ningxia established trade relations with 130 countries and regions. While traditional markets remained stable, countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative became a significant growth engine for Ningxia's foreign trade, with import-export volume to these countries up 45.9% year-on-year. Emerging markets such as Africa, Central Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe also showed impressive trade growth, effectively improving the region's foreign trade risk resistance capabilities.

In terms of trade structure, Ningxia's imports and exports showed clear characteristics of quality improvement and efficiency enhancement, with outstanding export performance and strong growth in productive imports. Driven by industrial transformation and upgrading, exports of mechanical and electrical products saw particularly notable growth, while traditional advantage products and agricultural products maintained steady growth. On the import side, metal ores and mineral sands, as well as agricultural products, saw substantial increases, effectively meeting industrial production needs and driving sustained positive momentum in import scale.

A responsible person from Yinchuan Customs stated that since the beginning of this year, the customs has continued to promote the effective implementation of Ningxia's "11228" open economic system, releasing policy dividends through measures such as "customs chiefs delivering policies to enterprises' doors" and "tailored strategies for individual enterprises." In this inaugural year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the customs will continue to optimize customs clearance services, focusing precisely on visa facilitation, policy briefings, and customs clearance acceleration to fully assist Ningxia's foreign trade enterprises in expanding markets and improving efficiency, continuously enhancing the international competitiveness of Ningxia products.

Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of China News. The China News version shall prevail.