Guangxi's foreign trade with ASEAN hit a new record for the January-July period, according to customs data released on Saturday.

In the first seven months of 2026, Guangxi's total foreign trade reached 494.28 billion yuan, an increase of 8.9% year-on-year. Exports stood at 268.36 billion yuan, while imports grew by 23.8% to 225.92 billion yuan.

The region has deepened its integration into the Belt and Road Initiative, leveraging its geographic advantages. Trade with three major emerging markets—ASEAN, Latin America, and Africa—has intensified, collectively contributing nearly 90% of the total foreign trade growth during the period.

Data shows that trade with ASEAN, Guangxi's largest trading partner, reached 248.21 billion yuan, up 2.5% year-on-year, setting a new historical high for the first seven months. Specifically, trade with Vietnam totaled 183.71 billion yuan, an increase of 3.3%. Trade with Latin America and Africa reached 88.31 billion yuan and 33.21 billion yuan, up 37.5% and 18.5%, respectively.

On the import side, Guangxi's bulk commodity imports expanded steadily, reaching 133.26 billion yuan, a 24.3% increase that contributed nearly 60% of the import growth. Driven by factors such as improved industrial production, rising international prices for copper ore, and the benefits of the "bonded blending" policy, metal ore imports grew 14.1% in volume and 33.8% in value. Crude oil imports increased by 0.6% in value.

On the export side, Guangxi is building modern manufacturing pillar industries. Sectors like new energy vehicles and batteries, machinery and high-end equipment manufacturing, and modern green chemicals continue to advance product upgrades and market expansion. Exports of lithium batteries, engineering machinery and parts, electric vehicles, basic organic chemicals, and pharmaceuticals reached 14.42 billion yuan, 9.7 billion yuan, 7.17 billion yuan, 2.14 billion yuan, and 1.09 billion yuan, respectively, up 7.7%, 13.4%, 200%, 81%, and 24.7% year-on-year.