South China's Hainan Province saw its total goods trade hit a historic high of 1.13 trillion yuan (about 162 billion U.S. dollars) during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), surpassing the one-trillion-yuan mark for the first time with a growth rate of 19.2 percent over the previous period, according to the data released by Haikou Customs.

To this trade figure, exports contributed 379.28 billion yuan (about 54.4 billion U.S. dollars), up by 21.6 percent, while imports contributed 752.42 billion yuan (about 107.9 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 18.1 percent, data showed.

During the past five years, Hainan's goods trade achieved significant scale expansion, successively surpassing the key thresholds of 100 billion yuan (about 14.3 billion U.S. dollars) and 200 billion yuan (about 28.7 billion U.S. dollars). The annual total surged from 93.47 billion yuan (about 13.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020 to 276 billion yuan (about 39.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, achieving an average annual growth rate of 24.1 percent. This growth pace was 17 percentage points faster than the national average over the same period, securing Hainan the fourth place in the country for trade growth.

Notably, exports maintained an average annual growth rate of 27.9 percent, outpacing the national average by 19.4 percentage points, while imports grew at an average annual rate of 22.4 percent, exceeding the national average by 17.1 percentage points.

During the period, the number of entities engaged in goods trade in Hainan continued to rise, with 5,241 foreign trade entities having recorded actual import and export performance. This represents a 2.9-fold increase compared to the 13th Five-Year Plan period. Among them, there were 5,017 private enterprises, an increase of 3.3 times. Their combined import and export value reached 670.69 billion yuan (about 96.2 billion U.S. dollars), growing by 32.9 percent and accounting for 59.3 percent of the province's total import and export value. This share represents an increase of 34.1 percentage points from the previous period.

The commodity structure in the province was optimized and the pace of market diversification was accelerated. During the period, Hainan enterprises exported 271.2 billion yuan (about 38.8 billion U.S. dollars) of industrial products, up 29.2 percent compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan period, accounting for 71.5 percent of the total export value, up 32 percentage points.

At the same time, Hainan's foreign trade market has accelerated its pace of diversification, expanding the number of trading partners to 230. The province's trade value with the partners under the Belt and Road Initiative framework reached 608.65 billion yuan (about 87.3 billion U.S. dollars), up by 24.7 percent, accounting for 53.8 percent of the province's total, up by 5.3 percentage points. Its trade with emerging markets such as Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, in particular, has maintained rapid growth.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, new business models such as off-island duty-free shopping, bonded maintenance, and cross-border e-commerce flourished, becoming new engines driving Hainan's foreign trade. Off-island duty-free sales soared from 64.79 billion yuan (about 9.3 billion U.S. dollars) during the 13th Five-Year Plan period to 189.45 billion yuan (about 27.2 billion U.S. dollars), marking a 1.9-time increase.

Meanwhile, cross-border e-commerce imports and exports surged from 790 million yuan (about 113.3 million U.S. dollars) to 24.37 billion yuan (about 3.5 billion U.S. dollars), representing a remarkable 29.8-fold growth.

The bonded maintenance industry, starting from scratch, expanded its scope from aircraft to include aircraft engines, automobile transmissions, and mobile phones. In 2025, the value of imported goods for bonded maintenance in the province stood at 102.75 billion yuan (about 14.7 billion U.S. dollars), ranking second in the country.