At a press conference on October 23, Xining Customs Deputy Director Zhu Xueying shared some impressive statistics regarding Qinghai Province’s trade performance in the first three quarters of this year. “In that timeframe, over 90% of our imports and exports were conducted through general trade, which showed significant growth,” Zhu noted, adding that processing trade exports doubled during the same period.
According to Xining Customs, Qinghai’s total import and export value reached 3.69 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2024, marking a 6.7% increase compared to the same period last year, placing the province 17th nationally in terms of growth rate.
Zhu further explained that general trade accounted for 3.66 billion yuan of the total, with a year-on-year increase of 14.5%. In contrast, processing trade saw a remarkable increase to 6.18 million yuan, representing a growth of 2.7 times.
When examining the types of enterprises involved, Zhu revealed that private enterprises were a significant driver of this growth, with imports and exports amounting to 2.8 billion yuan—a 56.2% increase. This segment made up 75.9% of the province’s total foreign trade, boosting the overall growth rate by 29.2 percentage points.
“Moreover, we’ve maintained growth in trade with our major partners and deepened our relationships with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative,” Zhu stated. In the first three quarters, ASEAN, the EU, Chile, South Korea, and Hong Kong emerged as Qinghai’s top five export markets. Trade with ASEAN reached 1.05 billion yuan, reflecting a growth of 62.9%. Exports to the EU were valued at 520 million yuan, up 21.3%, while trade with Chile soared by 6.9 times to 200 million yuan. Both South Korea and Hong Kong saw increases in trade with values of 180 million yuan and 180 million yuan, respectively, marking growth rates of 2.2% and 140%.
In total, trade with these five markets constituted 61.4% of Qinghai’s foreign trade value. Furthermore, in collaboration with Belt and Road Initiative countries, Qinghai recorded 2.66 billion yuan in trade, a 16.3% increase, which accounted for 72.1% of the province’s foreign trade. Notably, trade with emerging markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America reached 960 million yuan and 290 million yuan, growing by 62.5% and 2.3 times, respectively.
