Recently, news came from the Lhasa Municipal Commerce Bureau that Lhasa’s foreign trade work will move forward bravely under heavy pressure in 2025.
Through a series of measures such as policy empowerment, platform upgrades, and market expansion, the scale has been steadily improving, the structure has been continuously optimized, and breakthroughs have been made in many tasks, providing core support for the open economic development of the entire Tibet region.
According to statistics, the total import and export value of goods trade in the Tibet Autonomous Region in 2025 reached 8.479 billion yuan.
As the core of the region’s foreign trade, Lhasa’s total import and export value reaches 5.669 billion yuan, accounting for 67% of the region’s total, ranking first in the region.
The total import value was 2.281 billion yuan, accounting for 97% of the region’s total import volume, a year-on-year increase of 85%, ranking first in the country.
The vigorous development of Lhasa’s foreign trade has become a vivid practice for the snow-covered plateau to move towards Chinese-style modernization, and also confirms that this plateau is embracing the world with a more open attitude.
In terms of market development, Lhasa City insists on paying equal attention to “going out” and “bringing in”.
Organize local companies to participate in exhibitions in “Belt and Road” countries such as Singapore and Nepal, and also go to Hong Kong and Macao to carry out special economic and trade promotions.
Among them, the Hong Kong and Macao promotion conference reached over 80 intended cooperation projects, involving an amount of nearly 120 million yuan, and plateau specialty brands such as “Tibet 5100” won new orders.
The “Danqing Tibetan Rhythm” Thangka cultural tour project was successfully selected as a key national foreign cultural trade project, achieving a breakthrough in the trade of characteristic cultural products at the national level.
At the same time, the second Lhasa Imported Goods Exhibition was upgraded and held, innovatively adopting the “offline experience + online live broadcast” model, achieving on-site sales of 136 million yuan (including 12 million yuan online); when participating in the 8th China International Import Expo, it set up the first “International Sister City” special booth, achieving an intended purchase of 170 million yuan, and on-site signings of 38.63 million yuan, simultaneously promoting two-way breakthroughs in investment promotion and cultural exhibitions in the park.
Cross-border e-commerce has become a new engine for Lhasa’s foreign trade growth.
Lhasa City is advancing the construction of the South Asia cross-border e-commerce industrial park at full speed. The park was awarded the first provincial cross-border e-commerce industrial park in the Tibet Autonomous Region in May 2025, and its export volume reached 140 million yuan in the month it was awarded.
The third phase of the project is currently accelerating construction, and plans to build a container yard, a high-standard cold chain warehousing center and a smart logistics digital platform. After completion, it is expected to increase cargo turnover efficiency by 30% and reduce comprehensive logistics costs by 20%.
At the same time, the construction of the second phase of the overseas warehouse in Kathmandu, Nepal, is progressing simultaneously. It will create a modern overseas hub integrating constant-temperature cold chain warehousing, commodity display, and customs clearance logistics, providing full-chain support for enterprises to explore the South Asian market.
The implementation of new business formats has further enriched citizens’ consumption choices.
In November 2025, the “Lhasa Bonded Cross-Border Commodity Flagship Store” launched its trial operation and implemented the “1210 Online Shopping Bonded Import” model, bringing together more than 200 international brands and more than 100,000 products. The product prices are 20% – 30% lower than traditional counters, and “same-day ordering, same-day delivery” has been achieved. The cumulative sales reached 1.2 million yuan, and the sales on the opening day exceeded 100,000 yuan, rewriting the cross-border consumption pattern in Lhasa.
In addition, Lhasa City also strengthens the potential for foreign trade development through talent cultivation and risk prevention and control.
A cross-border e-commerce special training class was held in conjunction with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, covering 30 government and enterprise backbones; a new customs AEO advanced certified enterprise was added, accounting for 75% of the city’s cumulative certified enterprises, helping enterprises enjoy global customs clearance convenience; the export credit insurance policy was implemented to promote enterprises to obtain export credit insurance compensation of more than 6 million yuan (the highest single transaction in Tibet), effectively easing the financial pressure of enterprises and enhancing their confidence in exploring the international market.
In the next step, Lhasa will continue to deepen the construction of an open platform, promote the in-depth integration of foreign trade and industry, and strive to cultivate new business forms and models, injecting stronger impetus into building an important node city open to South Asia and serving the high-quality development of the entire region.
