As Spring Festival approaches, African specialties such as South African wine and Tanzanian nuts have become part of the celebration stockpile in households across China's Hunan province.

Since Jan 23, almost 300 products from more than a dozen African countries have been showcased at pop-up events in several cities, including Yiyang and Yueyang. At the permanent exhibition hall of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) in Changsha, shoppers can explore a wide range of African goods — from food and beverages to skincare — all under one roof.

Hunan, which has hosted four editions of CAETE, is emerging as a key hub for China-Africa trade. Last year, the province's total trade with African countries reached 58 billion yuan ($8.36 billion), ranking first in central and western China for the seventh consecutive year, according to the Hunan Department of Commerce.

"More than 3,000 Hunan-based enterprises now operate in 111 countries and regions," said Shen Yumou, head of the department, during the ongoing provincial legislative session.

Changsha, known as the "capital of construction machinery", has increased its exports of second-hand engineering equipment through national-first class standards for remanufactured and repaired machinery, addressing previous issues with inconsistent international rules.

"To address these challenges, we released standards for the export of remanufactured and repaired engineering machinery — a national first," said Tan Haoran, deputy director of the administrative office of the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

With these standards in place, product quality has improved, enhancing export competitiveness. Over the past two years, remanufactured equipment worth over 3 billion yuan has been exported from Hunan worldwide, Tan, who is also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Hunan Committee, added.