Imports and exports in the first half of the year were 1.22 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%--

Cross-border e-commerce injects new momentum into foreign trade

In the first half of this year, my country's cross-border e-commerce import and export was 1.22 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, which was 4.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of my country's foreign trade during the same period. Last year, my country's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports increased by 1.2 times compared with 2018.

Cross-border e-commerce is becoming a new engine for foreign trade growth in various places. Major foreign trade provinces such as Guangdong, Shandong, and Zhejiang, and open border areas such as Xizang are exploring new innovative development models based on their own realities. Among them, overseas warehouses, as a new foreign trade infrastructure, play an increasingly important role in cross-border trade.

Recently, a batch of fitness equipment produced by Zhongshan Yingliang Health Technology Co., Ltd. in Guangdong Province was transported to overseas warehouses of cross-border e-commerce located in the United States on an international cargo ship. "Under the guidance of Zhongshan Customs, we began to transform and go abroad through cross-border e-commerce." Wen Yanni, the company's business manager, said,"All our orders in the U.S. market are shipped from overseas warehouses, which is more efficient than the domestic direct-hair model."

As a leading cross-border e-commerce enterprise in Dongguan city, Guangdong Province, Shangrui Technology Co., Ltd. has driven nearly 100 traditional manufacturing companies to expand overseas online markets. Cheng Tianle, chairman of the company, said: "More than 90% of our orders are shipped from overseas warehouses."

Up to now, Guangdong Province has built a total area of nearly 6 million square meters of various overseas warehouses around the world. In the first half of this year, the import and export of cross-border e-commerce in Guangdong Province reached 427.34 billion yuan. Jumping from 11.3 billion yuan in 2015 to 843.3 billion yuan in 2023, the average annual growth rate of cross-border e-commerce import and export in Guangdong Province is as high as 71.4%, accounting for more than one-third of the country's cross-border e-commerce import and export.

Guan County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, also actively guides enterprises to carry out overseas warehouse layout with the help of business policies of stabilizing foreign trade and benefiting enterprises. "We encourage enterprises to adopt the 'exhibition before and warehouse' approach and set up Guan County brand commodity display centers in public overseas warehouses to support venue rent; encourage enterprises to build agricultural product group buying platforms or independent stations to support construction and operating expenses." Guo Huawei, Party Secretary of the Commerce and Investment Promotion Bureau of Guan County, said.

A few years ago, the overseas warehouse project of Guan County Baijia Food Co., Ltd. was recognized as a key public overseas warehouse for training by the Shandong Province Department of Commerce, and successfully applied for support funds. "In the first half of this year, our overseas warehouse turnover was US$30.1 million, serving 42 domestic companies." said Song Xiangzhen, manager of the international trade department of Baijia Food Co., Ltd.

Linyi City, Shandong Province, continues to expand its overseas network layout, implements the "Overseas Hundred Warehouse Plan", and encourages enterprises to build overseas shopping malls and overseas warehouses in countries and regions co-constructing the "Belt and Road", RCEP member countries and emerging market countries. At present, Linyi City has built a total of 31 overseas shopping malls and overseas warehouses.

At China Linyi Lanhua Overseas Mall in Yongin City, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, there are a wide range of Linyi specialty products such as willow table lamps, Kader bricks, and pet products. This overseas Linyi mall opened in September last year. It integrates Linyi City's high-quality products according to the "exhibition before the warehouse" model. It has functions such as display, experience, sales, and warehousing. It is also an upgraded version of traditional overseas warehouses. Guan Zhaojun, chairman and president of Lanhua Group, introduced that the company has also built overseas shopping malls and overseas warehouses in Malaysia, the United States, Kazakhstan, and Thailand, cooperated to create "China-Vietnam Border Warehouse" in the Yunnan River Estuary, continued to develop international trade business, and sold Linyi's specialty products overseas.

In recent years, trade exchanges between my country and Nepal have shown continued growth. After investigation and on-site inspections, the Lhasa Commerce Bureau of Xizang and Lhasa Zangni International Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. completed the construction and operation of overseas warehouses in just three months. "Lhasa encourages foreign trade companies to build overseas warehouses and will provide up to 5 million yuan in support to enterprises identified as public overseas warehouses. At the same time, a 50% rental subsidy will be given to companies leasing overseas warehouses." Zhao Hancai, deputy section chief of the Foreign Economic and Trade Management Section of the Lhasa City Bureau of Commerce, said that after the opening and operation of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, Lhasa City has made efforts in many aspects such as optimizing the customs clearance environment and exploring the international market to make the cross-border e-commerce industry bigger and stronger.

"Chinese goods are very popular in Nepal. We are purchasing small household appliances, clothing, shoes and hats and other goods for shipment to Nepal." Fu Guangyi, general manager of Lhasa Zangni International Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., introduced that the cross-border e-commerce model enables goods to be delivered to overseas consumers faster through pre-stocking of overseas warehouses, saving logistics costs and enriching local traditional foreign trade enterprises. Export categories and expand overseas consumer markets have opened up new paths.

According to reports, relying on Nepal's overseas warehouses, the Lhasa City Commerce Bureau will cultivate and attract a number of key cross-border e-commerce companies and service providers to expand export channels such as cross-border e-commerce, overseas establishment of warehouses, and overseas exhibitions. This year, the Lhasa Overseas Warehouse Project plans to complete a total export trade of approximately 400 million yuan.

In order to better serve cross-border e-commerce, various regions continue to launch new policies and new measures.

In order to accelerate the cultivation of new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce, the Guangdong Province Department of Commerce took the lead in formulating opinions on the planning and construction of cross-border e-commerce parks, and successively issued policies such as high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce and sustained and stable development of cross-border e-commerce.

Pan Wenqing, deputy mayor of Lhasa City, introduced that since the approval of the Lhasa Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, the city has formulated and introduced cross-border e-commerce support policies, introduced and cultivated cross-border e-commerce business entities, and made every effort to build a cross-border e-commerce industry ecosystem and continuously enhance the endogenous power of foreign trade. In the first half of this year, Lhasa City achieved a total import and export value of 2.594 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 183.3%, and foreign trade showed a good development trend.

Since the beginning of this year, the Zhejiang Province Department of Commerce has further promoted the cultivation of cross-border e-commerce entities, continued to carry out the action of "opening stores around the world, brands going out to sea, and independent stations piloting" to promote the connection of high-quality service provider resources with industrial belt enterprises. At present, Zhejiang Province has 206,000 active cross-border e-commerce export online stores, with more than 600 companies with annual sales of more than 100 million yuan. Data released by Hangzhou Customs showed that in the first half of the year, cross-border e-commerce exports in Zhejiang Province were 179.93 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.5%.

Recently, a batch of self-designed oil-paper umbrellas by Hangzhou Anruosu Technology Co., Ltd. were successfully exported to the European market on a dedicated cross-border e-commerce cargo flight.

"Since opening an online store on a cross-border e-commerce platform in February this year, sales of oil-paper umbrellas have increased month by month, and now we can receive more than 100 overseas orders every day on average." Li Yanshuang, the person in charge of the company, said that when traditional culture embraces emerging business formats, Chinese-style cultural products such as oil-paper umbrellas and horse-face skirts are continuing to be "popular" in foreign consumer markets.

Zhu Cheng, president of Zhejiang Bithuang Technology Group Co., Ltd., believes that cultural and tourism products will become a new variety of cross-border e-commerce tracks and will usher in huge market opportunities in the future. At present, the company plans to join forces with Guangdong Yuzi Industrial Investment Group and others to jointly build an industry-guided park integrating "cross-border e-commerce + cultural (cultural tourism) industry incubation + overseas social media + industrial funds". At the same time, we will build an ecological service chain that serves cultural and tourism companies across the country to help our country's cultural tourism products go global.

In order to support more traditional enterprises to better connect with the international market, Hangzhou Customs has made efforts in various aspects such as strengthening policy guidance and improving regulatory supporting facilities to smooth the channels for enterprises to "go out to sea" and support the normal operation of cross-border e-commerce export freight flights. The Zhejiang Province Department of Commerce will also establish a cross-border e-commerce enterprise cultivation bank, focusing on promoting traditional industry and trade enterprises, specialized and innovative enterprises, trade circulation enterprises, domestic e-commerce sellers, etc. to carry out cross-border e-commerce business, forming a new cross-border e-commerce increment. (Reporters Zhang Jianjun, Wang Jinhu, Dai Ling, Li Jing)