The Yangtze River Delta region, China's
foreign trade hub, is fostering new growth drivers to boost the
development of the sector. With the
COVID-19 pandemic still raging, the global economy has shown signs of
economic recovery. The recovering demand of foreign markets has promoted
the growth of China's foreign trade. In
the first quarter of this year, the delta region, home to the provinces
of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui as well as Shanghai Municipality and
accounting for over 30 percent of the country's total exports, saw
double-digit growth in foreign trade. Analysts
attributed the stellar growth to factors such as the stable
international supply chain, the upgrading of the foreign trade
structure, the active private economy, and the sound scientific and
technological innovation environment. In
the first quarter of this year, China's small commodity hub Yiwu in
Zhejiang Province handled 513 Europe-bound freight trains, loaded with
42,874 TEUs of cargo, marking a year-on-year increase of over 370
percent. "Railway transport has
become a vital link in the international logistics supply chain," said
Lin Huihuan, head of a freight forwarder of China-Europe freight train
services. For small and medium-sized
foreign trade companies, the transcontinental trade routes have ensured
the stability and smoothness of the international supply chain, and
enabled them to deliver goods to customers quickly and punctually, added
Lin. The trade structure of foreign
trade companies in the Yangtze River Delta region has been continuously
optimized in recent years. In the first quarter of this year,
Shanghai's import and export volume of high-tech products and mechanical
and electrical products increased by 7.4 percent and 13.2 percent year
on year, respectively. During the
same period, Zhejiang's exports of mechanical and electrical products
and high-tech products rose by 49.3 percent and 60.8 percent year on
year, respectively. "Last year, we
developed a new air suspension shock absorber, which has entered the
European and U.S. markets. The overseas market is expected to expand
further," said Jiang Mulin, general manager of an auto parts
manufacturing company in Zhejiang. The
delta region has a solid technological foundation. As labor and other
production costs are gradually increasing, the region's economic
structure is upgrading and transferring to technology-intensive
industries, said Xi Junyang, with Shanghai University of Finance and
Economics. "Therefore, the exports
of foreign trade companies in the region tend to be technology-intensive
products with high added value," added Xi. As
China accelerates the building of its new development paradigm
featuring "dual circulation," in which domestic and overseas markets
reinforce each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay, foreign
trade companies in the region are turning their eyes to the domestic
market. In the past, domestically
produced cars were equipped with manually adjusted seats. With the
upgrading of consumption, China-made cars are now equipped with electric
seats. "Hence, we are increasing our production capacity of electric
seats to meet the demand of the domestic market," said Zhang Weixing,
with an automobile electric appliance company in Anhui Province. Rising
commodity prices, exchange rate fluctuations, increasing labor costs
and other factors are posing challenges to foreign trade enterprises in
the delta region. To help deal with
these challenges, local governments have implemented a slew of favorable
policies and measures, including simplified customs clearance
procedures and more financial support, to help foreign trade companies
expand domestic and overseas markets. "The
Yangtze River Delta region is making efforts to explore the emerging
markets, while stepping up scientific and technological innovation to
enhance the status of Chinese manufacturing in the global industrial
chain," said Sheng Qiuping, director of the Zhejiang provincial
department of commerce. Enditem
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