In the factory buildings in the hinterland of central Hunan, the roar of machines goes beyond the mountains and mountains and along the path of the the Belt and Road to the distance. Ningxiang is no longer limited by inland coordinates. From single point mergers and acquisitions to cluster expeditions, from product exports to full chain layout, a central county town is carving a distinct county coordinate on the global map with an open attitude.

Relying on a solid manufacturing foundation, Ningxiang in the inland area actively explores international markets beyond geographical limitations. Local enterprises continue to expand their global presence through product exports, overseas mergers and acquisitions, cross-border factory construction, and cluster overseas expansion, providing fresh examples for inland counties to open up to the outside world. By 2025, Ningxiang's actual outward investment will exceed 1.5 billion US dollars, accounting for 59.46% of Changsha City and 45.89% of Hunan Province, firmly ranking as the main force of outward investment in all counties in the province. The outstanding results are due to long-term and steady accumulation.

Leading enterprises lead globalization

Enterprises going abroad not only reap economic benefits, but also integrate into the international forefront and the global industrial system. In April 2017, Chutian Technology acquired a century old German pharmaceutical machinery company, completing a major global acquisition project in the pharmaceutical equipment field. The company's R&D and production base regularly receives visits and negotiations from multinational clients. In November 2025, Xingbang Intelligent's overseas factory in Mexico was officially put into operation, becoming its second largest overseas manufacturing center outside of its Polish base. By 2025, the company's overseas revenue accounted for over 40%. In the past decade, the driving effect of leading enterprises has become prominent, and Ningxiang enterprises going global has become the norm. Zhongwei Group has established industrial bases in Indonesia and Morocco, built cross-border industrial chains, and steadily expanded its overseas territory relying on mature local production capacity in Ningxiang. Pengbo New Materials is seizing overseas energy storage opportunities and will establish a subsidiary in Germany in 2023 to open up new overseas growth points. Ningxiang Enterprises has achieved an upgrade from product output to full chain layout when going global.

Industrial clusters cluster together to expand the market

Ningxiang relies on its complete supporting advantages to cultivate and strengthen the mining machinery industry cluster. By 2025, the total output value of 112 related enterprises in the local area will reach 9.846 billion yuan, with products exported to more than 80 countries and a local industrial supporting rate of over 70%. Relying on the improvement of the industrial chain foundation, local enterprises are promoting a supply chain collaborative overseas model, relying on overseas bases in Europe and the Americas to drive upstream and downstream supporting enterprises to enter the international market synchronously, forming a new pattern of united overseas and collaborative development. Keywords: foreign investment, industrial cluster, the Belt and Road news

Government enterprise linkage consolidates confidence in going global

Ningxiang integrates high-quality market entities to form an overseas industry alliance, led by chain leading enterprises and adopting a full chain linkage model, to export complete industrial solutions to the outside world. Since 2024, local organizations have organized multiple visits to Africa for research and investigation, assisting companies in deepening their overseas markets. Simultaneously building a one-stop foreign trade service platform to provide precise services to leading enterprises and assist small and medium-sized enterprises in expanding their foreign trade business. In the first half of 2026, 27 local enterprises added foreign trade business, and 26 enterprises doubled their foreign trade revenue. Local practitioners rooted in Africa, building bridges for local economic and trade cooperation, with Ningxiang's trade volume with Africa reaching 560 million yuan in the first half of 2026. Relying on the joint construction of the the Belt and Road, we will make a deep layout overseas, and Ningxiang Manufacturing will continue to expand the international track to achieve high-quality breakthroughs in opening up inland counties.Editor/Gong Ziwei