Organizing a group to go out to sea to boost foreign trade
Figure ①: On November 18th, the investment promotion team of Tuanxiangcheng District, suzhou economic and trade, Jiangsu Province held talks with relevant institutions in Japan. Photo courtesy of Suzhou Xiangcheng District Bureau of Commerce
Figure ②: On December 17th, heads of more than 150 Guangdong foreign trade enterprises took a charter flight to Dubai to attend the 13th China (UAE) Trade Expo. Photo by Sun Shaoyang (People’s Vision)
Building a strong trading country is an inevitable measure to promote the quality change, efficiency change and power change of China’s economic development and improve the total factor productivity, and it is also an important content and urgent requirement for building a modern economic system. The Central Economic Work Conference held a few days ago proposed that we should make greater efforts to promote the stable scale and excellent structure of foreign trade, make greater efforts to promote the stable stock and expansion of foreign investment, and cultivate new growth points of international economic and trade cooperation.
For some time, due to the epidemic situation and other uncertain factors, domestic and foreign trade exchanges have been affected to some extent. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of various regions and departments, various policies were introduced in a timely manner, and the level of cross-border trade facilitation and foreign trade business environment were continuously optimized. Recently, many governments have organized charter flights to help foreign trade enterprises "go out to sea" to participate in exhibitions and talks, which has become a useful exploration to stabilize the basic foreign trade.
— — Editor
Suzhou, Jiangsu — —
"Everyone’s confidence has increased."
In the workshop, machinery flies and production lines are running at full capacity; Outside the factory building, several yellow forklifts shuttled back and forth, loading boxes of products to be exported abroad for shipment … … On the afternoon of December 17th, the factory of Jiangsu Suzhou Yita Electric Technology Co., Ltd. was in full swing. "It’s been almost three years since I was so busy. The company participated in a chartered flight from suzhou economic and trade to Japan, and got a new order of more than 30 million yuan in a few days. Now the construction period is particularly full. " Zhao Yuming, R&D manager of Yita Electric, said.
Back on November 17th, an 88-member suzhou economic and trade delegation flew to Tokyo from Sunan Shuofang Airport by charter flight. This is the first time that Suzhou has conducted overseas business exchanges as a team in the past three years. By organizing charter flights, foreign trade enterprises can seize more orders and sell local products all over the world; At the same time, the investment promotion team sent by the government department is also carrying out accurate investment promotion non-stop to attract high-quality projects and elite talents to Suzhou.
Wu Xiaoli, director of the Economic and Trade Development Bureau (China Merchants Bureau) of Xiangcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone, is one of the members of the investment promotion team in suzhou economic and trade Tuanxiangcheng District. She told reporters that in recent years, Xiangcheng Economic Development Zone has actively built a gathering area for Japanese-funded enterprises, and more and more Japanese-funded enterprises have chosen to settle here. However, in the past three years, affected by the epidemic, some Japanese-funded projects have not progressed smoothly, and some have even come to a standstill.
Gongyun Stamping is a Japanese-funded enterprise rooted in Xiangcheng Economic Development Zone for more than ten years. In the last year or two, the company needs to increase capital and expand production, but because it is impossible to talk face to face, telephone communication has not made substantial progress for more than a year. On this trip to Japan, a delegation from Xiangcheng Investment Promotion Team came to Osaka and visited Gongyun Stamping’s head office in Japan. The two sides sat together and had an open discussion. In this way, it took only two hours for the two sides to sign a memorandum of cooperation.
During the seven days of investment promotion in Japan, 12 investment promotion teams from Suzhou visited 62 enterprises and institutions, held three exchange and promotion meetings, and reached 32 investment intention projects with an intentional investment of 1.86 billion US dollars. Foreign trade enterprises visited more than 200 Japanese customers, and strived for new orders exceeding RMB 1 billion.
The trip to Japan is just the beginning of suzhou economic and trade’s charter flight. At 1 o’clock in the middle of the night on December 9, with an Eastern Airlines passenger plane carrying more than 200 passengers slowly taking off from the runway of Nanjing Lukou Airport, Suzhou business charter flight to Europe was officially opened.
"This charter specially chose 1 o’clock in the middle of the night, hoping to visit customers as soon as they landed." Sun Jianjiang, director of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said. The time in Europe is very short, but more than 230 events have been arranged, such as visiting the top management of enterprises and holding investment promotion activities … … 30 teams went deep into major cities in Europe, racing against time to grab orders and recruit projects.
On this trip to Europe, Gu Li, the general manager of Jiangsu Changjiang Paper Co., Ltd. from Changshu, brought three suitcases, two of which were filled with the latest R&D and design products of the company. Before leaving, Gu Li set herself a goal: to win an order of 5 million dollars. What she didn’t expect was that on her first day in Europe, she won an order of $1 million from an old customer in Turin, Italy. In the next few days, Gu Li’s schedule was full every day and orders kept coming. During this trip to Europe, the company received a total of about 15 million US dollars in orders, about one third of which came from new customers.
On December 18th, Suzhou chartered plane group to Europe has returned to China. During the charter flight trip to Europe, the suzhou economic and trade delegation "returned with a full load". Thirty investment teams visited 325 enterprises and institutions, signed 37 projects on the spot, and held (participated in) 29 investment promotion exchanges, reaching a total investment of 5.954 billion US dollars. According to the preliminary statistics of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the accompanying foreign trade enterprises visited 362 European customers and received orders of about 3 billion yuan, mainly for export.
Less than a month before and after, Suzhou concentrated on charter flights "going out to sea" twice, actively looking for market and development opportunities. "We are going to promote Suzhou’s excellent business environment, perfect industrial ecology and open mind." Sun Jianjiang said, "Through two charter flights, it is obvious that everyone’s confidence has increased!"
Jiaxing, Zhejiang — —
"One meeting is worth a thousand emails"
On December 4th, in the departure hall of Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Xu Yihong, the head of Pinghu Aili Trading Company, re-set foot on the trip to Tokyo, Japan after three years. "This is my first time to take a charter flight organized by the government. I will participate in the Asian Textile Clothing Exhibition held in Tokyo this trip. I am really looking forward to it." Xu Yihong said.
Around Xu Yihong, representatives of various foreign trade enterprises went through the exit formalities one after another under the guidance of government commissioners. In the past three years, we have not gone abroad, and everyone has come up with products at the bottom of the closet, bringing as much as possible. "One meeting is better than a thousand emails. Enterprises must go out if they want to survive." A person in charge of a clothing company told reporters that he couldn’t wait to take all the styles of clothes out of the company’s warehouse.
Organized by Jiaxing Municipal Government, this commercial charter flight attracted 96 people from 50 enterprises. The team stayed in Tokyo, Japan for 7 days, participated in the Asian Textile Apparel Exhibition, and carried out business visits, inspection, investment promotion and other activities.
"In July this year, we thought about charter flights leaving the country and organizing them through online and offline publicity. At that time, more than 80 people signed up, but soon nearly half of the enterprises backed out." Zhang Yueqin, director of Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said frankly, "The reason is also very simple, that is, I am worried about the uncertainty after going abroad."
In Zhang Yueqin’s view, Jiaxing has a high degree of export-oriented economy. It is imperative for government departments to let enterprises go out and bring in merchants. "I want enterprises to be bold ‘ Go to sea ’ The key lies in confidence, and the government must do a good job. "
To this end, the Jiaxing municipal government set up a special class to make full preparations for travel. The government official security group composed of Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Foreign Affairs Office and Health and Health Commission participated in the whole service guarantee, which dispelled the worries of enterprises.
When the plane arrived in Tokyo, two and a half days before the opening of the exhibition, many business leaders rushed to Kobe, Osaka, Nagoya and other places to visit customers.
Xu Yihong, who hasn’t seen an old customer for three years, has a suitcase full of new product samples. After in-depth exchanges, she was deeply inspired: "This time, I mainly understand the new trend of the Japanese garment market. Nowadays, Japanese young people prefer environmentally friendly products, and the raw materials of garments are mostly environmentally friendly materials such as renewable cotton." Subsequently, Xu Yihong contacted domestic suppliers for the first time and planned to adjust the next production strategy.
On the second day of the opening of the Asian Textile Apparel Exhibition, Lu Chenhui, a salesman of Zhejiang Jiaxin Silk Co., Ltd., rushed to Asakusa, Tokyo by bus to meet the intended customers. "On the first day of the opening ceremony, the company booth ushered in a single business and won ‘ Get off to a good start ’ I want to seize the opportunity to run more these days. " When I came to the exclusive store of the intended customer, the customer introduced the products and requirements to Lu Chenhui in detail. Because of the smooth face-to-face communication, the other party packed the fabric samples needed and asked Lu Chenhui to take them back to China for further study.
According to reports, Jiaxing’s economic and trade delegations to Germany, France and Japan recently conducted nearly 30 business activities, visited nearly 50 enterprises and relevant institutions, won over 400 million yuan in intentional orders, and reached five intentional investment projects with an intentional investment of more than 200 million US dollars.
"In the follow-up, we also arranged nearly 100 groups to organize nearly 10,000 enterprises to go out to grab merchants and grab orders. ‘ Double grab ’ The activity has built a carrier for enterprises and overseas customers. In the long run, this work will continue to be consolidated. " Zhang Yueqin said.
Shenzhen, Guangdong — —
"Overseas customers have a strong desire to meet."
"90% of the company’s customers are overseas and affected by the epidemic. In the past three years, we have mainly contacted customers through video conferences and emails. The medical consumables market has entered a period of rapid growth, and overseas customers have a strong willingness to meet. " Not long ago, Chen Jiequan, foreign trade director of Shenzhen Baimingsheng Medical Devices Co., Ltd., who attended the International Hospital and Medical Equipment Exhibition in Dü sseldorf, Germany, told reporters by telephone.
Recently, under the organization of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce, more than 20 responsible persons of Shenzhen medical device enterprises, including Bai Mingsheng Medical Device Company, collectively took a boat from Shekou Wharf to Hong Kong to transfer to Europe, participated in the influential international hospital and medical equipment exhibition in the field of medical equipment in the world, and had face-to-face communication with overseas customers.
"Shenzhen organized several charter flights (cabins) to help enterprises ‘ Go to sea ’ Give full play to the policy combination effect and departmental linkage to help foreign trade enterprises grab orders and stabilize the market. " Wu Yuexi, deputy director of the Foreign Cooperation Department of Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce, introduced that in 2022, Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce included 68 overseas exhibitions in the key support plan for overseas exhibitions, and regularly supported enterprises to expand the international market. At present, it has assisted nearly 1,000 Shenzhen enterprises to organize a group to "go out to sea" and recently organized 6 charter flights (cabins).
"At this international hospital and medical equipment exhibition, Shenzhen participated in the city as a unit. No matter the booth area, the number and quality of exhibitors, or the level of science and technology, it was a wonderful appearance in front of international counterparts." Wang Bin, executive vice president of Shenzhen Medical Device Industry Association, said that setting up an exhibition group can help small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry "go out to sea" to seize business opportunities.
In Dü sseldorf, Bermingsheng Medical Device Company not only fulfilled the order of more than 10 million euros, but also negotiated the project transfer and development cooperation with its partners in the next three years. Chen Jiequan introduced that at this exhibition, the overall performance of China enterprises made foreign partners feel China’s stable market and increasing innovation ability.
Qiu Shuai, deputy general manager of Shenzhen Xianjian Xinkang Medical Electronics Co., Ltd., also gained a lot from this delegation. Thanks to the company’s excellent products and the overall momentum of the Shenzhen Pavilion, more than 80 foreign institutions have conducted in-depth communication with Qiu Shuai and expressed their willingness to become regional agents for the company’s products. At present, the company has selected 24 from more than 80 foreign institutions as the first step of international marketing, and also increased the proportion of overseas sales from 10% to 30% in the near future.
In Jakarta, Indonesia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Shenzhen Products Indonesia Exhibition Center and Malaysia Exhibition Center were officially opened a few days ago, and Shenzhen product supply and demand matchmaking meeting was held at the same time. More than 70 well-known brand enterprises in Shenzhen all went into battle, attracting a large number of local buyers to come to the field to see the goods and negotiate docking on the spot.
"Enterprises participate in government organizations ‘ Go to sea ’ Participating in the exhibition, Shenzhen gives 80% air ticket subsidy and 50% booth fee subsidy, which is rare. " As a member of Shenzhen Intelligent Manufacturing Exhibition Group of 2022 (Jakarta) Intelligent Technology Exhibition, Shenzhen Skyworth — Liu Dangdang, deputy general manager of overseas marketing headquarters of RGB Electronics Co., Ltd. and general manager of regional business department, said that this time, Shenzhen science and technology enterprises not only displayed and released high-end products, but also showed the charm of "China Zhizao" to overseas users, and also reached cooperation with local governments and chambers of commerce. "We are confident that we will get back the lost time, open up new markets, expand new business opportunities and enter a new stage of development." Liu Dangdang said.
"In 2023, Shenzhen will organize a delegation ‘ Go to sea ’ The number of key support projects has increased from 68 to 105, the scope of support has been greatly improved, and the policy has continued to exert strength, further helping Shenzhen enterprises to explore overseas markets. " Wu Yuexi said.