In 2025, Wuhu ranks 38th in the country in the ranking of import and export data among China’s major foreign trade cities.
Behind the seemingly ordinary ranking is amazing data – the total import and export volume for the year was 194.751 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 32.40%, ranking first in the country.
How can Wuhu, which is “not along the coast or along the border”, challenge the open coastal cities?
It is the “top student in foreign trade” among non-provincial capital cities in central China.
In Anhui, Wuhu has always been positioned as a “provincial sub-central city”, but its foreign trade strength has far exceeded this status.
In 2025, Wuhu’s total import and export volume will rank first among non-provincial capital cities in central China, and its growth rate will rank first among the top 50 foreign trade cities in the country.
During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Wuhu’s total import and export volume grew at an average annual rate of 26.8%, much higher than the national and provincial averages, and its proportion in the province increased from 10.8% at the end of the “13th Five-Year Plan” to nearly 20%.
Entering 2026, the growth momentum will not diminish.
From January to February, the total import and export value of Wuhu City reached 39.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 60.6%, and the start is full of momentum.
Behind these data is a vivid story of an inland city breaking geographical restrictions and integrating into global trade networks.
The core engine of Wuhu’s foreign trade is the automobile industry.
In 2025, Wuhu’s automobile export volume will reach 1.351 million units, accounting for 82% of the province’s export volume and 19% of the country’s total.
In other words, for every five cars exported across the country, one comes from Wuhu.
The value of automobile exports exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 100.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 44.8%, accounting for more than 50% of the city’s total import and export volume.
Chery, the leading car company, has contributed a lot.
Chery’s export volume will reach 1.344 million units in 2025, ranking first in the export of Chinese brand passenger cars for 23 consecutive years, with its products covering more than 120 countries and regions around the world.
Among the 975,000 vehicles launched by Wuhu Customs, Chery is the well-deserved main force.
What deserves more attention is the upgrade of product structure.
Wuhu’s export products have been upgraded from the “three old products” such as household appliances in the past to the “three new products” represented by new energy vehicles.
In 2025, the export of “three new products” will be 45.87 billion yuan, soaring 676% year-on-year, among which the output of lithium-ion batteries, new energy vehicles and other products will increase by more than 30%.
Logistics is the biggest “stumbling block” for inland cities to engage in foreign trade.
Wuhu chose to create conditions.
In terms of water transportation, the annual container throughput of Wuhu Port accounts for nearly 60% of Anhui Province, and river-sea combined transport routes connect the trade networks of 144 countries and regions.
In May 2025, the expanded opening of the Zhujiaqiao Port Area was approved by the State Council. The annual container volume exceeded 1.8 million TEUs, ranking first in Anhui.
In terms of air transportation, Wuxuan Airport has opened 22 all-cargo routes, including 8 international routes. The number of cargo flights ranks 19th in the country, and the annual international cargo throughput reached 21,000 tons.
In terms of land routes, major facilities such as the Tower Bridge Multimodal Transport Base have been completed and put into operation, China-Europe (Central Asia) trains are operating on a regular basis, and the “air, rail, water and road” multimodal transport hub has been accelerated.
It is this three-dimensional logistics system that allows “Made in Wuhu” to travel smoothly around the world.
As an important part of the China (Anhui) Free Trade Pilot Zone, Wuhu Area has continued to innovate its system in recent years.
The cross-border e-commerce “9610” single customs clearance time has been reduced from 4 hours to less than 30 minutes. The peak of single-day customs clearance in 2025 will reach 270,000 orders, and the business volume will surge by 1,300% compared with the previous year.
The launch of the “all-area direct access” supervision system has brought the customs clearance efficiency of inland ports to catch up with coastal areas.
Wuhu’s cross-border e-commerce transaction volume jumped from 1.2 billion yuan in 2019 to 9.45 billion yuan in 2024, with an average annual growth rate of more than 50%.
At present, the city has built 8 provincial-level cross-border e-commerce industrial parks, with about 600 cross-border e-commerce performance and supporting service companies, and 20 companies have built and rented a total of 75 overseas warehouses, covering 30 countries.
Although the automobile industry is the “dwelling needle”, the confidence of Wuhu’s foreign trade does not stop there.
In the first 11 months of 2025, the export of mechanical and electrical products was 132 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.5%, accounting for 91.4% of the city’s total export value.
Advantageous industries such as auto parts, ships, electronic appliances, electrical equipment, and flat-panel display modules are in full bloom: auto parts exports are 8.9 billion yuan, an increase of 45.8%; ship exports are 2.54 billion yuan, an increase of 225%; flat-panel display module exports are 2.07 billion yuan, an increase of 100%.
Wuhu has manufacturing categories covering 37 of the 41 major industrial categories. It is promoting traditional industries to move towards the middle and high end of the value chain and cultivating more “Anhui export brands”.
At the same time, emerging industries such as low-altitude economy, robotics, and artificial intelligence are also accelerating their deployment, providing new growth points for foreign trade.
The rise of Wuhu’s foreign trade proves that in today’s globalized world, geographical location is no longer the only factor that determines destiny.
As long as an inland city finds the right industrial direction, builds a logistics network, and optimizes the business environment, it can also shine on the stage of global trade.
It also proves that if we develop a core industry thoroughly and become the best in the world, we can push the entire city to a higher platform.
In 2025, Wuhu delivered a high-scoring answer to the world with a total import and export volume of 194.75 billion yuan and a growth rate of 32.4%.
Facing the “15th Five-Year Plan”, Wuhu’s goal is to exceed 210 billion yuan.
This city on the bank of the Yangtze River is using “Wuhu Speed” to write a new chapter in inland opening-up.
