Sharing developmental opportunities with global community

THE ARTICLES ON THESE PAGES ARE PRODUCED BY CHINA DAILY, WHICH TAKES SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS

Employees work on a production line of export-bound electronics in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province (JIA MINJIE / FOR CHINA DAILY)

On the first day of the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, recently, Yuan Qinshan of the car maker Dayun Group could barely hide his joy.

“We secured export orders for hundreds of pickups and trucks, worth more than 60 million yuan (£6.6 million),” said Yuan, chairman of the company, whose headquarters are in Yuncheng, Shanxi province.

Ningbo APG Appliance and Technology Co Ltd, a manufacturer in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, said it sealed deals worth nearly $1 million (£798,000) during the first four days of the fair, also known as the Canton Fair, with more than 70 per cent of these agreements involving new customers.

The 135th Canton Fair, which ran from 15 April until 5 May, attracted 246,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries and regions, 24.5 per cent more than in the last session in October, said the China Foreign Trade Centre in Guangzhou, one of the organisers.

The fair exemplifies China’s commitment to sharing developmental opportunities with the world, said Zhao Ping, dean of the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade in Beijing.

Through this and similar platforms such as the China International Supply Chain Expo, China provides a wide range of high-quality products to the world and helps strengthen the resilience and stability of both regional and global industrial and supply chains, she said.

The value of China’s foreign trade rose 5.7 per cent to 13.81 trillion yuan (£1.53 trillion) in the first four months compared with the corresponding period last year, with exports rising 4.9 per cent to 7.81 trillion yuan (£864 billion), and imports growing 6.8 per cent to 6 trillion yuan (£664 billion), the General Administration of Customs said.

A container vessel busy loading in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province (GENG YUHE / FOR CHINA DAILY)

The country’s trade progress is underpinned by a robust industrial foundation, fast-growing technology, technology-intensive green product industries, improved innovation capabilities, numerous free trade agreements and tangible development spawned by the Belt and Road Initiative, market watchers said.

Amid numerous formidable challenges to worldwide economic growth, Chinese companies are focusing on developing and exporting products that are technologically sophisticated, environmentally friendly and have high added value, supporting the country’s efforts to improve its trade mix, said Lin Jiantian, director of the department of enterprise management and audit-based control in the General Administration of Customs.

Chen Bin, deputy director of the expert committee of the China Machinery Industry Federation in Beijing, said China’s export portfolio has performed solidly in machinery and electronics, as well as labour-intensive products, underscoring their sustained international appeal.

The steady increase in imports of bulk commodities and consumer goods reflects vibrant and expanding domestic market demand, Chen said.

Xu Hongcai, deputy director of economic policy committee of the China Association of Policy Science, said that expanding intermediate goods trade can also be a priority for maintaining the stability of China’s foreign trade.

By providing reliable and high-quality intermediate goods, China can support the development and expansion of manufacturing industries in countries such as Algeria, Hungary, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam, fostering their economic growth and ultimately contributing to global economic recovery, Xu said.