Chinese foreign trade companies achieve fruitful results looking for business opportunities overseas

Boarding charter planes, participating in international conventions, visiting new and old clients and receiving orders, Chinese foreign trade companies embarking on business trips abroad to expand their markets and look for business opportunities have achieved fruitful results.

Industry experts noted that Chinese foreign trade companies going abroad to attract orders and foreign investment reflect that China’s foreign trade has gathered steam and there is confidence for steady growth of the foreign trade sector.

Photo taken in November 2022 shows a wharf of the Yangpu International Container in south China’s Hainan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Fu Wuping)

On the evening of Dec. 4, Zhu Yu, foreign trade manager of a knitting company based in Jiaxing city, east China’s Zhejiang Province, boarded a charter plane bound for Japan to attend the Asian Fashion Fair (AFF). He also visited Japanese clients and signed an intent order worth $2 million with a client, which far exceeded the value of orders the company had signed with the same client previously. The order accounts for one-third of the company’s export volume in 2021.

Representatives from clothing companies in Jiaxing, east China’s Zhejiang Province, communicate with clients during the Asian Fashion Fair (AFF) in December 2022. (People’s Daily Online/courtesy of the interviewee)

"Chinese foreign trade companies going abroad to communicate with their clients face-to-face can reduce transaction costs and is of great significance for the high-quality development of China’s foreign trade," said Li Dawei, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

In the long term, this can help Chinese foreign trade companies look for more potential clients and expand exports, and in the medium and long term, it will facilitate the formation of a network of steady economic and trade cooperation between Chinese foreign trade companies and foreign companies, as well as the establishment of high-level cross-border industrial chain and supply chain, Li added.

This year, governments at various levels have released multiple measures to remove obstacles to foreign trade. In May, the general office of the State Council rolled out 13 measures in four aspects to guarantee the stability and quality of foreign trade.

Customs data showed that China’s foreign trade of goods jumped 9.9 percent year-on-year to 31.11 trillion yuan (about 4.75 trillion dollars) during the first nine months of 2022.

The Chinese business delegations have reported good performance going abroad to attract orders and investment.

In just 10 days, foreign trade companies from Foshan, south China’s Guangdong Province, have signed orders worth more than 100 million yuan and inked cooperation contracts with foreign clients in Germany, Poland, and Hungary. Foreign trade companies from Ningbo, east China’s Zhejiang Province, have signed orders worth roughly $2 billion with their foreign clients.

After visiting clients, Chen Xiaofeng, a member of the board of directors of Saga Audio Equipment Co., Ltd., in Foshan, found that Chinese-made products are popular overseas and the demand for high-end products remains at a stable level.

“Through this trip, I have become more determined to continue to develop new products and expand the oversea market,” said Chen, disclosing that he plans to invest over 40 million yuan to boost the transformation and upgrading of workshops of his company.

Members of an economic and trade delegation from Foshan city, south China’s Guangdong Province, attend a match-making event in Warsaw, Poland, in December 2022. ((People’s Daily Online/courtesy of the commerce bureau of Foshan)

“There is a great demand for Chinese-made goods overseas and the increase in the export of high-tech products has become a bright spot in the high-quality development of China’s foreign trade,” said Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School. Pan added that China’s high-tech manufacturing enjoys competitiveness in the global market and will further open up the global market.