At Khorgos Port in the morning, container trucks loaded with domestic new energy vehicles and photovoltaic modules were in a long queue, slowly heading for Kazakhstan. In the Kashgar Comprehensive Bonded Zone, thousands of miles away, workers are sorting and storing grain, oil, and ore from Central Asia. This busy flow of entry and exit outlines the latest picture of Xinjiang's foreign trade in 2026- the westward opening channels are getting wider and wider.

45.5% of the five Central Asian countries

From January to May 2026, the total import and export value of Xinjiang was 215.97 billion yuan, of which imports were 27.57 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%. Xinjiang's import and export to countries jointly building the the Belt and Road amounted to 190.2 billion yuan, accounting for 88.1% of Xinjiang's total import and export value in the same period; Imports and exports to ASEAN and Africa amounted to 36.91 billion yuan and 23.23 billion yuan, respectively, with growth rates of 9.7% and 107.5%. The most notable one is that Xinjiang's imports and exports to the five Central Asian countries reached 98.31 billion yuan, accounting for 45.5% of Xinjiang's total import and export value during the same period, and almost half of Xinjiang's foreign trade.

Private enterprises lead, market entities expand

The number of Xinjiang enterprises with import and export records in the first five months increased to 3349, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%. Private enterprises are the absolute protagonists, accounting for 94.9% of Xinjiang's total foreign trade value in terms of import and export value, and continue to play a leading role. During the same period, the import and export of four comprehensive bonded zones in Xinjiang amounted to 45.19 billion yuan, while the import and export of China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone amounted to 57.06 billion yuan. The agglomeration effect of open platforms is increasingly evident.

Double prosperity of bulk imports and electromechanical exports

In terms of commodity structure, Xinjiang imported 6.938 million tons of bulk commodities with a value of 10.33 billion yuan, an increase of 26.6% and 21.4% respectively year-on-year, with both volume and value increasing. The export side continues to tilt towards high added value, with exports of mechanical and electrical products totaling 78.04 billion yuan, accounting for 41.4% of Xinjiang's export value during the same period, indicating that Xinjiang is transforming from a traditional border trade channel to an important node for technological equipment to go global.Editor/Yang Meiling