In 2026, Dalian’s foreign trade will show a strong development trend, and emerging markets will become the main force driving its growth.
Data show that in the first quarter of this year, Dalian’s total foreign trade import and export value reached 123.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%.
Among them, Dalian’s foreign trade export performance was particularly impressive in the first quarter, with export volume reaching 65.68 billion yuan, an increase of 15.5%.
Private enterprises are playing an increasingly important role in Dalian’s foreign trade.
The import and export of Dalian’s private enterprises was 75.34 billion yuan, an increase of 10.9%, accounting for 60.9% of the city’s total import and export value, an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
This shows that the development potential of the private economy has been further released and the activity of private enterprises has continued to increase.
At the same time, the growth rate of processing trade led the city’s foreign trade, with imports and exports of processing trade reaching 35.98 billion yuan, an increase of 44.2%, driving the city’s import and export growth by 9.2 percentage points.
Emerging markets have become the main driving force for Dalian’s foreign trade growth.
Dalian’s imports and exports to ASEAN, Africa, Latin America and other emerging markets were 33.28 billion yuan, 8.65 billion yuan, and 6 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 102.8%, 160.9%, and 14.2% respectively.
This shows the diversified development of Dalian’s foreign trade market and no longer relies solely on traditional markets.
During the same period, imports and exports to traditional markets such as the EU and South Korea were 13.19 billion yuan and 11.15 billion yuan respectively, which also increased by 9.6% and 11.4% respectively. Traditional markets still maintained stable growth.
Mechanical and electrical product exports occupy an important position in Dalian’s foreign trade.
Dalian exported 43 billion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, an increase of 37%, driving the city’s export growth rate by 20.4 percentage points, accounting for 65.5% of the city’s total export value.
Among them, exports of ships, integrated circuits, and auto parts increased by 146%, 78.1%, and 20.9% respectively.
In addition, the export of rail locomotives was 810 million yuan, an increase of 13.5 times; the export of electric vehicles was 530 million yuan, an increase of 376.2%; the export of cranes was 410 million yuan, an increase of 174.1%.
The export of these high-end equipment has become a new growth point, reflecting the upgrading of Dalian’s manufacturing industry and the improvement of its innovation capabilities.
In general, in the first quarter of 2026, Dalian’s foreign trade has achieved remarkable results in private enterprises, emerging markets, and exports of mechanical and electrical products.
In the future, Dalian is expected to continue to maintain this good development trend, further expand the international market, and enhance foreign trade competitiveness.
