From January to April this year, Yibin City achieved a total import and export value of 9.854 billion yuan in goods trade, ranking third in Sichuan Province.
During the same period, the total import and export value of Sichuan Province was 346.38 billion yuan, of which Chengdu accounted for 83.2% of the province’s share with 288.21 billion yuan, occupying an absolutely dominant position.
Outside Chengdu, Yibin and second-ranked Mianyang City (first quarter data: 8.64 billion yuan) together form the second echelon of Sichuan’s foreign trade.
The core engine of Yibin’s foreign trade data is the “three new” industries represented by photovoltaic products, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles.
In the first four months, the city’s exports of “three new products” were 4.24 billion yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 82.9% against the trend.
The “three new items” export value of 4.24 billion yuan accounted for 58.7% of Yibin’s total export value during the same period, nearly 60%.
Within the province, Yibin’s “three new products” exports accounted for 33.5% of the province’s total export value of similar products (12.64 billion yuan), and contributed 45.5% to the province’s “three new products” export growth.
Specific to the subcategories:
- The export of photovoltaic products was 3.278 billion yuan, accounting for 44.3% of the province’s photovoltaic product exports.
- Lithium battery exports were 921 million yuan, accounting for 52.4% of the province’s lithium battery exports.
- The export of electric vehicles was 41.24 million yuan, accounting for 1.2% of the province’s electric vehicle exports.
From a structural point of view, photovoltaic products are the absolute main force in Yibin’s “three new products” exports, contributing more than three-quarters of the share.
The leading enterprise Sichuan Yingfa Ruineng Technology Co., Ltd. is an important support. Its administrative director Zhang Weihong said that in 2025, the company’s global battery cell shipments will rank second in the world.
The strong export of the “Three New Products” has driven the coordinated import and export of the new energy industry chain.
In the first four months, Yibin’s new exports of battery radiators were 287 million yuan, copper and aluminum exports were 62.96 million yuan, and lithium hydroxide exports were 92.95 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1467.8%.
At the same time, import demand in the upper reaches of the industrial chain has increased simultaneously.
From January to April, the total import volume of Yibin related products was 647 million yuan, an increase of 38.9%.
Among them, the import of spodumene used in lithium battery production was 330 million yuan, an increase of 44.5%, accounting for more than half of the total imports.
This forms a clear industrial closed loop of “raw material import – production and manufacturing – finished product export”.
An analysis by Yibin Customs of the General Administration of Customs believes that this closed-loop model effectively reduces the cost of the industrial chain and enhances the international competitiveness of products.
The Yibin Municipal Commerce Bureau also stated that the rapid growth of the “three new products” exports reflects the competitiveness of Yibin’s new energy industry cluster.
Driven by the “Three New Things”, Yibin’s foreign trade “circle of friends” continues to expand.
In the first four months, Yibin’s foreign trade partners have expanded to 121 countries and regions.
Among them, ASEAN has become the largest trading partner, with imports and exports to ASEAN worth 2.488 billion yuan, accounting for 25.2%.
Indonesia, India, Nigeria and Hong Kong are the top four single foreign trade markets.
The improvement of logistics channels provides support for market expansion.
Represented by logistics companies under Sanjiang Group, new rail-sea intermodal transport channels such as “Yibin-Qinzhou-America” have recently been opened. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Sanjiang New Area’s multimodal freight volume accounted for 32%, and transportation timeliness increased by 42%.
Expanding the horizon to the entire province, Sichuan’s three major foreign trade cities present different driving logics:
- Chengdu: Absolutely leading in scale and diversified industries.
With the electronic information industry as the core, integrated circuit imports account for nearly 70% of the province’s mechanical and electrical product imports, and “three new types” of exports account for more than 60% of the province’s exports. At the same time, new business formats such as private enterprises and cross-border e-commerce are active. - Mianyang City: two-wheel drive of electronic information and characteristic agriculture.
In the first quarter, exports of lithium-ion battery packs increased by 465%, while relying on traditional Chinese medicinal materials (such as Ophiopogon japonicus) and other specialty agricultural products to develop international markets. - Yibin City: The growth momentum is highly focused on the new energy industry chain.
Its “three new items” export growth rate (82.9%) is much higher than the provincial average (50.1%), and the cluster and closed-loop characteristics of the industrial chain are the most obvious.
Yibin’s industrial foundation provides confidence for its foreign trade growth.
As the “Power Battery Capital of China”, Yibin has built a power battery production capacity of 240GWh. About 1 out of every 10 power batteries in the world is “Made in Yibin”.
Sanjiang New Area has gathered more than 120 upstream and downstream supporting projects, building a green full industry chain from upstream materials to battery recycling.
Despite rapid growth, the single industry-driven model also means that Yibin’s foreign trade is more closely tied to the fluctuations in the global new energy market.
At the same time, its import structure is highly concentrated in raw materials such as spodumene, which also reflects a certain dependence on overseas resources.
Ye Chao, Deputy Commissioner of Yibin Customs, said that the next step will be to continue to consolidate the advantages of the “import and export dual engines” of the new energy industry and deepen the construction of smart customs to support new business formats.
How to maintain growth resilience on a high base and further optimize the trade structure will be the next topic facing Yibin Foreign Trade.
