Foreign trade firms in China boost orders by expanding overseas markets

Foreign trade companies in the coastal Chinese provinces of Shandong and Guangdong are expanding into diversified international markets to secure and even increase their order volumes despite a complex external environment and the challenges presented by U.S. tariffs.

A shoe-making company in Wenshang County, east China's Shandong Province, is busy preparing to ship 30,000 pairs of sports shoes to Europe.

The U.S. market has historically accounted for nearly 30 percent of the company's export orders, so the tariffs did cause delivery challenges for many orders. Nevertheless, the company has managed to increase its overall order volume despite these difficulties.

"We have expanded into more than a dozen international markets, including Australia, Turkey, Singapore, and Malaysia, achieving a 25-percent increase in overseas orders. Meanwhile, by tapping into domestic market potential and meeting local consumer demand, we have grown our domestic market share by 15 percent, significantly reducing our over-reliance on external markets," said Du Ji, the company's production manager.

The company has also developed differentiated products tailored to the specific needs of different markets. This year, its newly launched anti-static and anti-slip products have won favor in the European Union market thanks to their advanced technology.

In Zhongshan City, south China's Guangdong Province, an appliance company is experiencing strong demand for its portable toaster ovens, with customers urgently requesting faster deliveries.

"Orders from customers for April, May, and June may continue to decrease, and in this regard, our U.S. customers are actually more eager to push the orders forward than we are," said Liang Ruiji, deputy general manager of the company.

Responding to emerging challenges in foreign trade, the local commerce department in Zhongshan has implemented a series of policies to stabilize foreign trade and drive growth, helping enterprises secure new orders and expand into new markets.

In the first quarter of this year, Zhongshan's total foreign trade import and export value reached 68.95 billion yuan (around 9.56 billion U.S. dollars), marking a year-on-year increase of 10.5 percent.

The U.S. dollar weakened in late trading on Friday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, dropped 0.34 percent to 98.982 at 15:00 (2000 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1606 dollars from 1.1583 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound added to 1.34 dollars from 1.3328 U.S. dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 157.74 Japanese yen, lower than 157.77 Japanese yen in the previous session. The U.S. dollar decreased to 0.777 Swiss francs from 0.7827 Swiss francs, and it declined to 1.3596 Canadian dollars from 1.3697 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar dropped to 9.1855 Swedish Kronor from 9.2657 Swedish Kronor.