On November 18th, the reporter learned from the Yichang Municipal Bureau of Commerce that from January to October this year, the city's total exports reached 16.23 billion yuan, ranking third in Hubei province, a year-on-year increase of 12.2%. Liu Zhenhua, the Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Municipal Bureau of Commerce, introduced that made-in Yichang goods are sold well globally demonstrating steady improvement of its foreign trade by the strategy of attracting the foreign companies domestically while contacting companies abroad under the changing global economic and trade environment.
Attract friends worldwide to appreciate the tea for long-term friendships
On May 3rd, the 2019 International Tea Purchase Fair was held in Yichang with the theme of "Yichang Tea is famous in World"to promote the high-quality tea of Yichang and raise the reputation of the Yichang tea brands. During the period, more than 40 tea buyers from countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”, such as Russia and Uzbekistan, went to Wufeng, Yidu and other places, visited the tea museum and tea plantation, production and processing bases to experience the rich tea culture of Yichang and signed a 9000-ton tea purchase agreement with a tea company valued at US $ 110 million."Buyers' Yichang trip set up a foreign trade transaction platform and strengthened the confidence of Yichang tea companies to explore overseas markets." Zhang Yong, director of the Foreign Trade Section of the Municipal Bureau of Commerce, told reporters that through the holding of the Yichang trip by tea international buyers, the export value of tea reached more than 30 million US dollarslast year, accounting for more than one-fifth of the province's total tea exports, and the export growth rate reached 36%. Not only must foreign businessmen be brought in, allowing them to come directlythe tea production basesof Yichang, they must also go out and actively participate in various exhibitionsto promoteYichangtea worldwide and build businesswith foreign markets. On November 5, the second China International Import Expo opened in Shanghai, and our city organized a group to participate in and hold supporting trade promotion activities. 66 companies including Angel Yeast, Xingfa Group and HumanwellPharmaceutical participated in the negotiations and reached an intentional purchase contract for meat products, energy saving and environmental protection equipment. From September 23rdto 27th, the Municipal Bureau of Commerce organized 7 tea and citrus deep-processing enterprises in our city to go to Russia to carry out "Excellent Merchandises are Sold toRussia"activities, and went to St. Petersburg to carry out a series of economic and trade promotion negotiations, and signed a value 10 Multi-billion-dollar sale agreement for agricultural products. In order to increase the enthusiasm of enterprises to go abroad, the Commerce Bureau vigorously strives for central, provincial and municipal foreign trade support funds. At the same time, export companies are trained in foreign trade policies and businesses, and they establish communication channels with Chinese export credit insurance companies to help them avoid risks in overseas markets and enhance their confidence in developing overseas markets. One out of every 7 pianos in the world is produced by Yichang Perth Music Group, and Angel Yeast, the world ’s third largest yeast company, is exported to five continents ...In the first three quarters of this year, there were 306 import and export companies in the city. The main export products include fertilizers, agricultural products, food, electronics and electrical products, medicine, machinery and equipment. According to statistics, "Made in Yichang"goodshavebeen exported to more than 150 countries and regions. Among them, 48 Yichang enterprises started their investmentabroad.
Open overseas markets with companies in group
During the first three quarters of this year, our city organized a total of 40 foreign trade SMEs and participated in more than 10 key international exhibitions, including the Las Vegas Apparel Fabric Exhibition and the Asian Agricultural Exhibition (Cambodia), covering chemical and food , clothing, and other industries, reducing the overall exhibition cost of enterprises by 20%, helping enterprises save more than one million yuan in total exhibition costs, an increase of 15 million US dollars in exports. The market is the lifeline of an enterprise. With the increasingly fierce competition and increasing internationalization, seeking a diversified market has become the only choice for enterprises. When small and medium-sized enterprises enter the international market, they face difficulties such as single channels, lack of talents, and weak ability to resist risks. The Municipal Bureau of Commerce actively promotes the strategy of market diversification and supports the development of new foreign trade formats. Based on the provincial integrated foreign trade pilot enterprises such as Hubei Yimaotong Enterprise Management Service Co., Ltd., it organizes small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in overseas exhibitions and trade promotion activities. As a pilot platform for the province's comprehensive foreign trade services, E-commerce Company not only provides enterprises with one-stop customs clearance, logistics, tax refund and other services, but also makes full use of supportive policies and uses the province's "Hundred of ExhibitionsAction" plan to allow companies to invest limited funds used on the blade, relieved the pressure on the turnover of corporate funds. "When we went to Kazakhstan to participate in the International Building Materials Exhibition in early September, we had to pay 85,000 yuan, and Yimaotong helped the company to advance the subsidy for the participation in the exhibition. In fact, it only paid more than 30,000 yuan." Shao Ye, principal of Sinoma (Yichang) Energy ConservationNew Materials Co., Ltd. revealed.Key export enterprises are the main force for earning foreign exchange through exports. In 2018, Yichang's foreign trade import and export volume exceeded 20 billion yuan, of which the trade volume with the top 7 trading partners of the “Belt and Road” reached 3.6 billion yuan. Wang Jizhong, deputy director of the Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said that in the next step, the city will implement a person-to-person docking and "one enterprise, one strategy" for enterprises with an export value of more than 10 million US dollars. Difficulties and problems should be handled in a special and urgent manner, and every effort should be made to resolve them in accordance with the law and regulations.
A strong growthmomentum of cross-border e-commerce
"Supports Yichang's breakthrough development of cross-border e-commerce", this year's provincial government's "Work Report" clearly proposed this work deployment. Our city has taken effective measures to solidly promote the development of cross-border e-commerce. The reporter learned that the city actively applied for a cross-border e-commerce comprehensive experimental zone and accelerated the construction of a cross-border e-commerce industrial park. After the 74,000 square meter industrial park property built by Yichang High Control Group is completed and put into use, it is estimated that 30 companies will settle in this year, and up to 50 companies will settle in 2020. Decoration is currently underway, and the park is expected to open by the end of this year. In order to accelerate the development of the city's cross-border e-commerce, the city strengthened training and held two cross-border platform operation thematic training courses to enhance the enthusiasm of foreign trade enterprises in developing cross-border e-commerce. Revise the city's special foreign trade support policy, include cross-border e-commerce into the scope of policy support, and encourage enterprises to inquire orders through platforms such as "Alibaba International Station". Focusing on the declaration and construction of the comprehensive free trade zone, the “Interstate Measures for Supporting Cross-border E-commerce in Yichang Free Trade Zone”was issued, which clarified the direction, content and standards of support. Cross-border e-commerce has emerged as a new force, and the new foreign trade situation is gaining momentum. At present, the city has built two cross-border e-commerce industrial bases in Huameng Cross-border E-commerce Industrial Park Cross-border E-commerce Base and Three Gorges International Jewelry and Arts Park Cross-border E-commerce Service Platform. More than 50 foreign trade companies such as Angel Yeast and Yizhi Konjac Biotechnology Co., Ltd.,use third-party platforms such as “Export Link”and “AliExpress”to conduct cross-border e-commerce business. It is expected that the B2B platform will drive exports of about 50 million US dollars this year. Yichang Lanqier Clothing Co., Ltd. sells infant and toddler clothing products across the border, and cross-border e-commerce exports reach 130 million yuan.(Sanxia Daily Reporter:Jie Xingwei; Correspondent:Liu Yali；)