CCTV news: On the morning of March 18, after the Hainan Free Trade Port closed the entire island for customs operations, the first customized railway train departed from the Haikou Railway Port. An efficient, stable and green logistics channel has been added between Hainan and Guangdong. The goods carried by the train are customs-supervised chemical products after value-added refining and processing in Hainan. In compliance with the customs supervision policy for value-added goods processed at "second-tier ports" under customs closure and duty-free goods, all parties have established an efficient collaboration mechanism to open up a fast channel from "factory to market". The transportation time limit has been reduced from the traditional 5 days to 2.5 days, and "end-to-end" full-process logistics services have been completed within 3 days.

According to Haikou Customs statistics, since the closure of customs operations on December 18, 2025, as of the end of February 2026, the total import and export of goods trade by Hainan enterprises has reached 65.49 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.1%. Among them, exports were 26.84 billion yuan, an increase of 55.4%; imports were 38.65 billion yuan, an increase of 15.5%. Since the customs closure was implemented, Hainan’s foreign trade growth rate has remained above 20% for three consecutive months. The number of enterprises with import and export performance in Hainan was 2,108, an increase of 48.5%. Hainan's imports and exports with more than 180 countries and regions have increased. Shanghai: Foreign trade got off to a strong start. The total value of imports and exports in the first two months increased by 23.1% year-on-year.

In the first two months of 2026, Shanghai's foreign trade also continued its steady and positive trend. The total value of Shanghai's imports and exports was close to 800 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%. Both scale and growth rate were outstanding, achieving a strong start. It is understood that since February 2025, Shanghai's import and export scale has maintained positive year-on-year growth for 13 consecutive months. Since 2026, the growth rate has continued to accelerate, and the data in February are particularly eye-catching. Qian Kun, head of the Trade Research Section of the Shanghai Customs Statistics and Analysis Office, said that in February 2026, Shanghai's import and export volume reached 397.52 billion yuan, a significant increase of 28.7%, and the growth rate hit a new single-month high since 2011.

This strong growth is due to the continued optimization of market layout. While consolidating traditional markets such as the European Union, Shanghai's trade exchanges with emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, and Africa are becoming increasingly close. In the first two months, the total value of Shanghai's imports and exports to ASEAN exceeded 100 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.8%, and the total value of Shanghai's imports and exports to Africa increased by 30.4% year-on-year. From the perspective of export structure, high-tech and high value-added products have become strong engines. Exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, industrial robots, ship-to-shore cranes and other products have doubled in the first two months. In terms of imports, imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, storage components and other products have grown rapidly, which also reflects Shanghai's strong demand for industrial upgrading and advanced manufacturing.