According to a recently held press conference in China’s southern province of Hainan, the island is forging ahead in facilitating the free-flow and convenience of trade and investment in the province, and is showing real momentum in developing an export-oriented economy.

Numbers

Over the past five years, the province has grown 8.2 percent in economic extroversion - a strong indicator of the scale and level of the open economy. The island utilized more than $9.1 billion of overseas investment during the past five years alone, approaching the total amount invested over the past 30 years altogether.

Optimization of Foreign Investment Structure

Hainan also saw increasing development of the modern service industry (one of the three leading industries on the tropical island) in the area of actual use of overseas investment, with the industry accounting for 91% of the province’s total investment use in 2021, 30% higher than in 2018.

Foreign-invested businesses have become one of the main boosters of foreign trade in Hainan. In 2021, 22% of the province’s total import and export volume was due to foreign-invested businesses.  

Record High Foreign Trade Volume

Last year saw Hainan’s total product trade volume top nearly 147.7 billion yuan (about $21.89 billion), a breakthrough for the island in exceeding 100 billion yuan (about $15.1 billion) in product trade for the first time.

Duty-free Shopping, Magnet for Overseas Consumer Spending

During the past four years, Hainan’s duty-free policies have gone through several major changes in order to offer a better shopping experience to consumers from China and around the world. Currently, the province is home to 10 duty-free shops, selling high-quality items from more than 1,400 international brands. In 2021, Hainan's island departure duty-free sales maintained a rapid yearly growth rate of 84%, with a total sales of over 60 billion yuan (about $9.5 billion).

Customers in the beauty section at a duty-free shop in Haikou’s Mova Plaza. (XINHUA / ZHANG LIYUN)