2026 is the first year of the “15th Five-Year Plan”. The domestic demand market potential continues to be released, new consumption scenarios continue to emerge, and hot topics such as cultural and tourism integration, ice and snow economy, and national trend consumption frequently emerge, demonstrating the resilience and vitality of the ultra-large-scale market.
In the first four months of this year, the total export value of the Yangtze River Delta region reached 3.83 trillion yuan, accounting for 41% of the country’s total export value, a record high for the same period in history.
Behind digital innovation highs is the systematic support of new products, new markets, and new models.
Starting from these three “new”, we can clearly understand the quality and confidence of the Yangtze River Delta report card.
Yixin: The “three new things” lead the way, and AI computing power becomes the growth pole
In the past, the Yangtze River Delta relied on the “three new things” of clothing, home appliances, and furniture to dominate the world. Now it is the “three new things” of electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products that carry the banner.
In April alone, Shanghai’s “three new products” exports increased by 96.3% in total, of which photovoltaic products surged 5.9 times. They are exported to more than 200 countries and regions around the world, and leading companies’ orders and production capacity are almost full.
It is worth noting that the explosion of the artificial intelligence industry has injected a new growth pole into foreign trade.
Driven by the global AI industry, Shanghai’s import and export of AI-related products such as integrated circuits, storage components, computer parts and accessories totaled 73.58 billion yuan, an increase of 85.7%, driving the city’s foreign trade growth by 8.5 percentage points.
Bonded logistics accounts for more than 60%, indicating that Shanghai has been deeply embedded in the global AI industry chain and supply chain.
From the “three new things” to AI computing power, high-tech and high value-added products are becoming the “new business card” of the Yangtze River Delta’s foreign trade.
Second news: diversified progress, exports to the United States show resilience beyond expectations
In the traditional impression, the Yangtze River Delta’s foreign trade is highly dependent on the European and American markets.
But the data in April this year showed a new pattern: Shanghai’s import and export to ASEAN increased by 26.4%, of which the growth rate for Vietnam was as high as 95.7%; the growth rate for South Korea was 57.2%; the growth rate for the EU was 15.1%, while the growth rate for Italy and Belgium reached 41.3% and 67% respectively.
What is particularly rare is that exports to the United States did not decline as expected.
In April, Shanghai’s import and export to the United States was 35.38 billion yuan, of which exports were 20.13 billion yuan, an increase of 13.9%, significantly better than the national average, showing resilience beyond expectations.
From relying on Europe and the United States to diversifying, Shanghai’s trade with the world’s major economies has shown a general increase. The coordinated efforts of multiple markets have significantly enhanced the ability of foreign trade to resist risks.
Three new technologies: electronic labels + intelligent inspection, digital customs clearance speeds up
Products and markets are the “hard power”, while supervision and services are the “soft environment”.
Shanghai Customs took the lead in launching a pilot project for electronic labels for imported cosmetics. A small QR code has achieved multiple innovations: for enterprises, label updates do not need to be re-labeled, reducing costs and speeding up customs clearance; for consumers, all information is available with a scan of the mobile phone, the font can be enlarged, and the voice can be read; for supervision, offline manual spot checks have been switched to online automatic comparisons, achieving “nothing is disturbed and everywhere”.
At the same time, the country’s first maritime intelligent inspection platform is operating in Shanghai.
The platform breaks down the inspection process into 12 standardized operating units, and relies on AI technology to automatically capture cargo information, intelligently identify abnormal categories, and accurately push inspection points.
Data shows that 75% of manual work units are replaced by machine assistance, and the on-site work time of customs officers is reduced by about 50% compared with the traditional model.
These digital innovations are supporting the “hard growth” of foreign trade with the upgrade of the “soft environment”.
Under the superposition of the three “new”, the foreign trade of the Yangtze River Delta has not only accelerated, but also achieved high quality.
In the first four months, Shanghai’s cumulative import and export volume reached 1.68 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.7%, and has maintained growth for 15 consecutive months.
This report card, which is full of “new” content, has written a powerful footnote for China’s foreign trade to “make steady progress”.
