Zhejiang's foreign trade reaches record high in first four months

A Liberia-registered bulk carrier, Inception, berths at the Laotangshan port area of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on May 10, 2026. [Photo/IC]

Zhejiang's imports and exports reached 1.86 trillion yuan ($274.08 billion) in the first four months of 2026, up 6.7 percent year-on-year, according to Hangzhou Customs.

Exports rose 6.5 percent to 1.40 trillion yuan, while imports increased 7.4 percent to 468.12 billion yuan. Total trade, exports, and imports all reached record highs for the period.

Bulk commodity imports reached 82.89 million metric tons in the first four months, up 3.8 percent. Imports of metal ores and concentrates rose 13.8 percent to 54.61 million tons.

Imports of mechanical and electrical products grew 18.9 percent to 81.87 billion yuan, contributing 3.0 percentage points to the province's import growth. Among them, imports of integrated circuits rose 53.5 percent, while imports of flat-panel display modules rose 2.7-fold.

Foreign trade businesses also became more active. In the first four months, 117,000 enterprises in Zhejiang conducted imports or exports, up 14.7 percent.

Private enterprises accounted for 110,000 of them, up 15.6 percent. Their imports and exports reached 1.53 trillion yuan, up 8.0 percent, accounting for 82.2 percent of the province's total foreign trade and contributing 6.5 percentage points to overall growth.

Foreign-invested enterprises recorded 230.17 billion yuan in imports and exports during the same period, up 2.9 percent.