Since 2018, the scale has exceeded one million billion yuan in total.

According to the Shanghai Customs, since the integration of the Yangtze River Delta region into the national strategy in 2018, the region's foreign trade volume has grown rapidly. As of May this year, it has exceeded 100 trillion yuan, reaching 101.2 trillion yuan, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality. 

In the first five months of this year, the total import and export volume of the Yangtze River Delta region reached 6.73 trillion yuan, increasing by 5.2% year-on-year, accounting for 37.5% of the total import and export volume of the country during the same period. The total import and export volume of Jiangsu was 2.33 trillion yuan, growing by 5.3%, accounting for 34.7% of the total import and export volume of the Yangtze River Delta region during the same period; Zhejiang's exports reached 1.69 trillion yuan, contributing 20.7% to the national export growth, ranking first in the country; Anhui's total import and export volume was 374.79 billion yuan, growing by 15.4%, which was 12.9 percentage points higher than the national growth rate; Shanghai maintained a stable position as a key import hub in the Yangtze River Delta region, with imports reaching nearly 1 trillion yuan, accounting for 40.7% of the total imports of the Yangtze River Delta region. 

In the first five months, the Yangtze River Delta region's general trade imports and exports reached 4.4 trillion yuan, with a growth of 4%. Private enterprises' imports and exports amounted to 3.74 trillion yuan, increasing by 9.1%, accounting for 55.6% of the total imports and exports in the Yangtze River Delta region. 

From the perspective of product types, the export of mechanical and electrical products accounted for nearly 60% of the total, while the export of integrated circuits showed a relatively fast growth rate. In the first five months, the export of mechanical and electrical products in the Yangtze River Delta region reached 2.56 trillion yuan, increasing by 9.9%, accounting for 59.6% of the total export value of the Yangtze River Delta region during the same period. 

The ASEAN and the EU are the main trading partners. In the first five months, the import and export volume of the Yangtze River Delta region to the ASEAN and the EU was 1.07 trillion yuan and 1.02 trillion yuan respectively, increasing by 16.9% and 3.9% respectively; the total import and export volume to the countries participating in the "Belt and Road Initiative" was 3.36 trillion yuan, growing by 10.1%.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              （Economic Daily）, June26 , 2025