Data released by the Hubei Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on February 11 shows that international trade in Hubei's agricultural products maintained stable and positive growth with improved quality and efficiency in 2025. The total import and export value reached 34.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.2%. Exports amounted to 14.06 billion yuan, up 6.9% year-on-year, with a growth rate 5.2 percentage points higher than the national average. Additionally, the Wuhan International Agricultural Products Exhibition and Trading Center, with a total investment of approximately 500 million yuan, was recently signed and is expected to commence operations before the end of 2027.
In 2025, Hubei's agricultural product international trade demonstrated three key characteristics: continuous expansion of export entities, broadening of export markets, and ongoing optimization of the export structure. The province's total agricultural product import and export value reached 34.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.2%, reflecting a trend of steady improvement and enhanced efficiency. Export performance was particularly notable, reaching 14.06 billion yuan, a 6.9% increase year-on-year, with a growth rate 5.2 percentage points above the national average.
Regarding export entities, Hubei Province added three new high-quality entities for the high-quality development of agricultural international trade in 2025, bringing the total to 23. This creates a favorable situation where high-quality entities lead the development of foreign trade. The number of agricultural enterprises with actual export performance reached 732, a net increase of 36 enterprises, or 5.2% growth, compared to the previous year. There were 826 registered export food and agricultural product cultivation farms with customs, a net increase of 275, or 49.9% growth.
In terms of export markets, Hubei Province continued to expand its reach. The number of export trading partners reached 170, an increase of 5 compared to the previous year, including new partners such as Burundi, Curaçao, Zimbabwe, Armenia, and Luxembourg. The province maintained stable important markets like Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, and the United States, which saw year-on-year growth of 50.3%, 21.6%, 29.2%, and 1.6%, respectively. Exports to RCEP member countries expanded, reaching 5.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%.
Furthermore, the proportion of exports comprising high-value-added and intensively processed agricultural products exceeded 30%. Products such as yeast, shiitake mushroom sauce, and konjac products became major export items. Yeast alone accounted for 11.4% of the total agricultural product export value from Hubei, experiencing growth in both volume and price, and remained the top export category. Hubei led the nation in export value for yeast, fresh eggs, dried black fungus, and other plant gums and thickeners (including konjac products).
For Hubei's agricultural product trading market, the recent signing and establishment of the Wuhan International Agricultural Products Exhibition and Trading Center is also significant news. With a total investment of approximately 500 million yuan, the center will construct core facilities including an agricultural product spot trading building and an international agricultural product exhibition center. It will also cover aspects such as agricultural ecological construction, the development of a digital agriculture platform, and support for business incubation, aiming to create a national-level agricultural product industry ecosystem hub integrating trading, exhibitions, finance, and services.
The Wuhan International Agricultural Products Exhibition and Trading Center is positioned as an integrated urban-rural industrial coordination node combining four functions: a "trading brain, city living room, terminal network, and foundational support." Its format includes a 19-story comprehensive building, leveraging an ecological closed loop of "exchange + headquarters industrial park + community network + international exhibition and sales" to achieve integrated operation of trading, finance, and services.
The project is located within the China Urban-Rural Headquarters Economic Industrial Park in the Houguanhu Headquarters Area of the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone. Centered around an agricultural product spot exchange, it aims to establish itself as the headquarters economic and operational command center for the agricultural product industry in Central China. The trading building will primarily handle bulk agricultural product spot trading, price discovery, and risk management, supported by an integrated service system. The International Agricultural Products Exhibition Center will focus on the exhibition and sales, experiential exchange, and brand promotion of global high-quality agricultural products and domestic geographical indication products, serving as a connecting window between production areas and markets, both domestically and internationally.
Upon completion, the project is set to become a modern platform for agricultural product spot trading and industrial headquarters based in Wuhan, radiating nationwide and linking globally. It will establish a new agricultural product circulation system characterized by "buying globally and selling globally." Construction is planned to commence in the first half of 2026, with operations starting before the end of 2027. Investment attraction and operational preparations have already been initiated concurrently, with efforts focused on achieving full occupancy upon opening and immediate effectiveness upon operation.
It is estimated that after reaching full operational capacity, the platform's annual agricultural product transaction value could reach 50 billion yuan. It is also expected to create approximately 5,000 jobs across various fields including operations management, exhibition services, cold chain logistics, and commercial support.
Comments