Pilot zones help sustain cash flow

Provinces throughout China represented by e-commerce players as effort to kickstart business begins

By YUAN SHENGGAO

A number of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones are at the ongoing 127th China Import and Export Fair, which is being held online in an effort to fuel momentum in foreign trade amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Hu Jinhui of the Taiyuan Bureau of Commerce in Shanxi Province said: “The Shanxi zone brought 16 enterprises to the fair, which include enterprises specializing in metal castings, glassware and third-party service.

“In addition to recommending enterprises to the world, we hope the cross-border e-commerce pilot zones can become known to the wider public and attract more newcomers.”

The pilot zone in Taiyuan is among 24 pilot zones that were approved by the State at the end of 2019. In the past six months, Hu said that the zone has created a business environment suitable for cross-border e-commerce development. As a result, a great number of related enterprises have moved in.

One of the 105 comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones participating in the fair, based in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, announced its latest development.

Xiong Guanglan, of the Nanchang Investment Promotion Bureau in Jiangxi Province, said: “Our zone has handled more than 20 million international express deliveries since its establishment in 2018, with the volume of imports and exports exceeding $100 million.

“At present, the zone is accelerating the improvement of relevant facilities and policies to attract more cross-border trade enterprises, which will help boost transformation and upgrading of foreign trade in Jiangxi.”

An official from Chengdu, Sichuan province, shares the same view. Wu Xiaoxing, of Chengdu bureau of commerce, said that thanks to the fair, cross-border e-commerce pilot zones will get more attention throughout the world, and thus more orders will come.

Chengdu’s pilot zone, established in 2016, has seen its cross-border e-commerce trade surge. It has played a more important role in promoting the growth of foreign trade over the years.

Between January and May, the turnover of the Chengdu zone reached 9.93 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), up 42 percent year-on-year. The volume of its retail imports and exports reached 780 million yuan, an increase of 102 percent.

“Though the scale of cross-border e-commerce is smaller than traditional trade, it is of great importance in building the future trade ecosystem, promoting production and optimizing the trade process. An improved cross-border e-commerce ecosystem and continuous growth of cross-border e-commerce across the globe will take its scale to a new level,” Wu said.

Moreover, some exhibitors said comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones are now acting as a bridge between foreign trade enterprises hit by the pandemic and customers looking for quality goods.