Trucks transport containers at Qianwan Container Terminal of Qingdao Port in east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 27, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)
BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's cross-border e-commerce trade value grew 15.6 percent year on year to 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023, with an increasing number of enterprises and improved ecosystem, according to Wang Shouwen, the vice minister of China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC).
Behind the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce are new logistics channels, which have provided efficient air, sea and road freight support for the thriving trade form.
China will continue boosting cross-border e-commerce this year to inject new impetus to foreign trade. Spurred by policy incentives and the development of cross-border e-commerce platforms, the value of China's cross-border e-commerce imports and exports is expected to reach 2.95 trillion yuan in 2024, according to the MOC.
-- Rapid growth with highlights
The aggregate imports and exports of China's cross-border e-commerce reached 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023, showing a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent. Cross-border e-commerce has become a new engine driving the growth of the national foreign trade, Wang Shouwen told a press conference held on January 26.
New highlights have emerged in the sector. Firstly, businesses engaged in actual foreign trade numbered about 645,000, representing a new historical high. Of the total, over 100,000 ones were cross-border e-commerce enterprises, said Wang.
Industrial ecosystem was optimized. For one thing, emerging e-commerce platforms were rising rapidly with surging overseas orders. In 2023, export declarations in Shanghai's airports from the three leading Chinese e-commerce platforms, namely SHEIN, Pinduoduo and TikTok, increased by more than 10 times that of the previous year, according to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. For another, the number of overseas warehouses also increased. By the end of last year, China had 1,800 overseas warehouses, up over 200 from the figure in 2022, according to him.
He added that new progress had been made in building Chinese brands. Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises had registered over 30,000 trademarks in overseas markets in 2023, in comparison to 20,000 by the end of 2022.
China has been attaching great importance to fostering new engines for foreign trade. In April 2023, the State Council, China's cabinet, issued a guideline on stabilizing the scale of foreign trade and optimizing its structure. The document proposed to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce by encouraging localities to set up comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce and supporting foreign trade enterprises to develop cross-border e-commerce business so as to expand sales channels and cultivate proprietary brands.
-- Expanded logistics network
Backing the rapid growth of cross-border e-commerce are new logistics channels, which have provided efficient air, sea, etc., freight support for the thriving trade form.
A cargo plane loaded with cross-border e-commerce goods such as clothing and daily necessities recently took off from Ningbo City in east China's Zhejiang Province and arrived in New York City, the United States, after a 16-hour flight.
The journey marked the launch of a new air freight route dedicated for cross-border e-commerce export in Ningbo under the Fifth Freedom of the Air, which is a permission that allows an airline to carry passengers or cargo between foreign countries as a part of services connecting the airline's own country.
Previously, as there was no direct flight from Ningbo to New York, Ningbo companies had to detour to Shanghai or other places in order to transport goods to New York by air. Now with the launch of the new flight route eligible for the Fifth Freedom of the Air, products can be shipped directly from Ningbo to overseas consumers.
On January 22, a batch of clothing from Xi'an City in northwest China's Shaanxi Province was loaded to containers at the Qingdao West Coast New Area Bonded Logistics Center in Qingdao City in China's Shandong Province, waiting to be shipped to Japan by sea.
This service integrating "domestic transportation - fast customs clearance - international sea freight - customs clearance and delivery in Japan" is launched by Qingdao West Coast New Area Bonded Logistics Center to further lift cross-border e-commerce cooperation between China and Japan to a higher level. It is based on a new Qingdao-Japan sea transport channel for cross-border e-commerce exports of business-to-consumer (B2C) goods initiated on January 12.
The new channel allows goods to be carried by sea and delivered to Japanese consumers within 5 days after leaving Qingdao, 2 to 3 days shorter than the conventional way of air transport, according to Sui Weijing, deputy director of logistics capacity of Qingdao West Coast New Area Bonded Logistics Center.
-- Fresh steam in 2024
China will continue boosting cross-border e-commerce this year to inject new impetus to foreign trade, said Wang Shouwen.
According to him, the country will advance the introduction of measures to expand cross-border e-commerce exports and push forward the development of overseas warehouses, and guidelines for the protection of intellectual property rights in the cross-border e-commerce sector.
Efforts will be made to develop "cross-border e-commerce + industries", and encourage traditional foreign trade enterprises to engage in cross-border e-commerce business.
Exchanges and training sessions involving government officials, industry representatives, and cross-border e-commerce enterprises will be strengthened. Particularly, international exchanges in cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones and Silk Road e-commerce cooperation pilot zones will receive strong support as an important part of Belt and Road cooperation.
At local levels, cities, provinces and regions are vowing greater support for the growth of cross-border e-commerce. For example, south China's Guangdong Province will promote the mode of "cross-border e-commerce + industries" and expand the building of overseas warehouses. Having realized 800 billion yuan of cross-border e-commerce imports and exports in 2023, Guangdong, the foreign trade powerhouse of China, targets at over one trillion yuan in 2024.
With further institutional openness and the rapid growth of multiple Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms, the value of China's cross-border e-commerce trade is expected to reach 2.95 trillion yuan in 2024, reported Securities Daily quoting Hong Tao, vice chairman of China Consumer Economics Society. (Edited by Su Dan with Xinhua Silk Road, sudan@xinhua.org)
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