Securities Times reporter Zhang Shuxian and trainee reporter An Yufei
"Visited 9 new and old customers, and received an intentional order of 5 million US dollars." On the evening of December 14, Hua Yifan, the business director of Jiaxing Shanhui Clothing Co., Ltd., who was still in hotel isolation, repeatedly said in an interview with a reporter from the Securities Times "Return with a full load".
A few days ago, he went to Japan to grab orders with a chartered flight overseas economic and trade group organized by the Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce.
The Central Economic Conference held last week pointed out that more efforts should be made to promote the stable scale and optimal structure of foreign trade.
In the face of the world economic downturn and shrinking external demand, the commerce departments of many provinces and cities in my country led teams to organize enterprises to go overseas to grab orders, which was considered a pragmatic move to seize the window period and boosted market confidence.
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, major foreign trade provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, and Sichuan have set off a wave of organizing companies to "charter flights to sea to grab orders", aiming at overseas markets, vowing to regain the "lost three years" Go all out to promote foreign trade and stabilize growth.
Very rewarding
Groups who went overseas to grab orders are returning one after another
On December 4th, Hua Yifan followed the Jiaxing chartered flight to Japan and arrived in Japan. During the next 6 days, he was busy visiting old customers, participating in exhibitions, and developing new customers.
"I arrived in Japan on the 4th, and started visiting customers on the 5th and 6th. There are old customers who have cooperated for many years, and new customers I met online. I visited 5 customers in two days." Hua Yifan said when accepting reporters, "No Illustrated this trip", "There was a new client who had a more speculative chat. He spent half a day on the 7th and 8th each, taking us to visit other clients, and met 4 more clients, and visited 9 clients in total. "
In Hua Yifan's view, face-to-face negotiation has a higher success rate than communication via email or telephone.
"Some customers have recognized our samples and prices before, but they are not good at placing core orders without meeting each other and knowing enough." He revealed that after face-to-face communication, he has finalized with some customers "Although the intentional orders of 5 million US dollars may not always be converted into orders, the company has a clearer understanding of the market conditions when going out."
The reason why Jiaxing Shanhui Clothing Co., Ltd. was able to successfully go overseas to grab the order this time is the support of Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce and other departments.
On December 4th, Jiaxing "fired both arrows" and sent out two economic and trade investment delegations to Japan and Germany and France on the same day, traveling thousands of miles overseas to negotiate business face-to-face and grab orders.
In an interview with reporters, a person from the Jiaxing Bureau of Commerce said that the economic and trade delegation to Germany, France and Japan had a total of more than 400 million yuan in intended orders. The number of exhibitors and the number of booths both accounted for about 14% of the entire exhibition, the intended transaction amount exceeded 300 million yuan, and a group of enterprises received new orders."
The textile and garment industry is a traditional export industry in Jiaxing. This chartered flight to Japan to grab orders, Jiaxing enterprises visited more than 200 customers on the spot, received more than 2,100 merchants in the exhibition hall, displayed more than 2,000 new products, and maintained and continued a number of old customers. , Developed a number of new customers.
The above-mentioned person said that this move has greatly boosted the confidence of Jiaxing's foreign trade enterprises, and is expected to drive the rapid growth of exports of Jiaxing's textile and garment industry in the first quarter of next year.
"Next time there is a government-chartered flight group going to sea, we will participate." Hua Yifan told reporters that his company belongs to the traditional trade model and mainly focuses on exhibition customers. Even if the government does not organize charter flights, it will participate in the exhibition. It is more convenient for merchants, for example, you don’t have to worry about itinerary arrangements, and materials such as masks and antigens are fully prepared.”
Several batches of overseas chartered flights (cabins) organized by the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Commerce have also returned.
In these chartered flights (cabins), nearly 100 Shenzhen enterprise delegations from the medical equipment and technology industries gathered, and went to many countries to participate in international high-level exhibitions and conduct business exchanges. Their return trips are full of new orders and new markets: 2022 ( Jakarta) Intelligent Technology Exhibition Group reached an intended order of about 45 million US dollars, and the German Dusseldorf Medical Exhibition Group received orders exceeding 42 million US dollars...
"The effect of participating in the exhibition is even better than before the epidemic." As the only Chinese supplier of high-end in vitro diagnostic consumables for the industry giant Roche Group, the relevant person in charge of Shenzhen Baimingsheng Medical Devices Co., Ltd. said, "I haven't seen customers for three years. This exhibition We received and visited more than 50 customers intensively, not only signed trade contracts, but also negotiated project transfer and development cooperation in the next three years."
As Shenzhen's "sea veteran", Skyworth Group has been deeply involved in overseas markets for more than ten years.
The person in charge of Shenzhen Skyworth-RGB Electronics Co., Ltd. said that this time, relying on the "power of the exhibition group", it not only displayed and released mid-to-high-end products, but also reached cooperation with the local government and chamber of commerce to show overseas users the charm of "Made in China".
Grab orders to attract foreign capital
The foreign trade center is striving for the economy with all its strength
Jiaxing organized a group to go overseas to grab orders, which is the epitome of Zhejiang's "thousands of groups and enterprises to expand the market and grab orders".
According to the plan of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, Zhejiang will organize more than 10,000 enterprises to participate in economic and trade activities abroad through chartered flights, shared flights, flights and other modes.
Relevant persons from the Zhejiang Department of Commerce revealed to reporters that at present, 11 cities in Zhejiang Province have taken action one after another.
According to the reporter's incomplete statistics, major foreign trade provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, and Sichuan have organized charter flights for foreign trade companies to go overseas to help companies grab orders and customers, and make every effort to stabilize the basic market of foreign trade.
Yu Jian, chief retail analyst of Caitong Securities, said in an interview with reporters that "organizing a group to go overseas" to grab orders is a pragmatic move by market players to quickly seize the window period after the optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures. It sends a strong signal to the outside world, announcing that Chinese companies are Continue to participate in the global market with a proactive attitude.
Local governments and enterprises organize groups to go overseas to grab orders and restore economic and trade links between China and the world, which will stabilize the expectations of partners.
"In the past three years, the epidemic has prevented many Chinese companies from conducting business connections and business negotiations with the world in a normal manner, which has seriously affected corporate orders, especially those of some medium-sized companies." Liu Yuanchun, president of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, was interviewed by reporters. Shi said, "If Chinese companies don't go out and negotiate, some orders may be taken away by counterparts in other countries."
Taking the clothing and textile industry as an example, according to the estimates of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, the transfer scale of my country's textile and apparel orders in the first half of the year was about 6 billion US dollars, of which the transfer scale of cotton textile orders was about 1 billion US dollars, and the clothing transfer scale was about 5 billion US dollars. .
Cotton textile orders are mainly transferred to India, and clothing orders are mainly transferred to Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Cambodia.
It can be seen that some foreign trade orders may be transferred to other countries if my country's foreign trade enterprises do not "grab".
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs a few days ago, in November this year, my country's total import and export value was 3.7 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.1% over the same period last year, and the growth rate slowed down sharply from 6.9% in October.
During the same period, the year-on-year growth rates of total exports and imports were up 0.9 percent and down 1.1 percent respectively, both of which were also sharply lower than in October.
"Zhejiang and other major foreign trade provinces organized groups to go overseas to grab orders, which is a very important measure to boost my country's foreign trade exports. In the future, my country's foreign trade will not be as pessimistic as many people think." Liu Yuanchun said.
According to a research report of Huachuang Securities, in the first 10 months of this year, the total import and export value of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Sichuan, four major foreign trade provinces, exceeded 16 trillion yuan, accounting for 47% of the country's total foreign trade, which means that these four If the total import and export volume of a province can be increased by 1 point, the total import and export volume of the whole country can be increased by nearly 0.5 percentage points.
The reporter noticed that while organizing foreign trade companies to go overseas to grab orders, foreign trade provinces often combine foreign trade with foreign investment, not only taking foreign trade companies abroad to participate in exhibitions, but also arranging investment promotion, and making every effort to stabilize the basic foreign trade of foreign investment.
The above-mentioned person from the Jiaxing Bureau of Commerce told the reporter that the economic and trade delegation to Japan visited nearly 50 enterprises and relevant institutions, and reached 5 investment intention projects with an intended investment amount of more than 200 million US dollars.
In November this year, Suzhou organized a sea trip to Japan. The investment teams visited 62 enterprises and related institutions, and reached 32 investment intention projects with an intended investment of US$1.86 billion.
Seize the opportunity
It is more expected that foreign trade enterprises will take the initiative to attack
Although "organizing a group to go to sea" is of great significance and has achieved remarkable results, for many foreign trade companies, if they want to truly "recover blood", they cannot just wait for government departments to take them to sea to grab orders, but must take the initiative to expand the space for development.
The person in charge of the foreign trade business of a listed company in Jiangsu said in an interview with reporters that the company did not follow the government's charter flight to sea this time, because as early as mid-September, he had already rushed to France and Germany to visit customers. This was his first time in three years. Visit customers abroad.
"Before the epidemic, I went abroad two or three times a year to participate in foreign exhibitions or visit customers. Affected by the epidemic, I haven't gone out for three years. This year's business is not particularly good, and I can't sit still in the second half of the year. I ventured out.” The person in charge told the reporter, “At that time, I visited several clients, who hadn’t seen Chinese people for several years, and they were very happy and touched, and they opened up all new products and business quotations to us.”
The person in charge said that with the convenience of domestic and foreign exchanges, we will go out at least five times in 2023, and the frequency will be higher than before the epidemic, and we will try our best to grab orders and business. The overall demand is showing a downward trend, and it is expected that the demand will drop by 5% to 10% next year. We need to be more proactive and develop new products closer to the market to make up for the declining demand.”
Liu Xiaoming, executive president of Hebei Unaide Energy Saving Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview with reporters that the company participated in an online exhibition in Russia in October this year, and plans to participate in foreign offline exhibitions after the Spring Festival. In the Belt and Road market, agents and old customers are distributed in these markets, and we haven’t seen each other for three years. We need to communicate with old customers first, and then consider expanding new customers later.”
According to Liu Xiaoming's judgment, the peak period of infection rate after the Spring Festival has passed, and workers will have no problem returning to work. By then, they will be able to supply goods immediately after receiving orders. "With the convenience of overseas exchanges, it is expected that the company's foreign trade business will achieve 30% growth next year."
Some foreign trade companies have also found new impetus for business growth on e-commerce platforms.
There is an industrial electronic display company named "Shenzhen Zoteng" on the international station of Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce platform.
"The 3C industry was born in Huaqiangbei. If you trade offline, you will be killed by your peers. If you do foreign trade in Europe and the United States, you will be killed by big names. At Alibaba International Station, Shenzhen Zoetis chose to go through digital new foreign trade." The flexible customization market of the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved unexpected results.” Shen Fangjun, spokesperson of Alibaba International Station, said in an interview with reporters that on May 11, 2020, Zoetis obtained the company’s single transaction through Alibaba International Station. The largest overseas order - 3.46 million US dollars, equivalent to more than 20 million yuan.
At present, Zoetis products are exported to nearly 100 countries and regions around the world, and its sales this year have exceeded 250 million yuan.
"In the three years since the epidemic, the most obvious change we have seen in foreign trade businesses is to actively embrace digital new foreign trade." Shen Fangjun said.
Based on this, Ali International Station has recently launched at least 100 overseas exhibitions based on "digital mixed exhibitions", covering more than ten important foreign trade target markets. Reach overseas professional buyers and expand overseas markets efficiently.
What is "digital mixed exhibition"?
Shen Fangjun introduced that the "digital mixed exhibition" is Alibaba's international station to help small and medium-sized foreign trade merchants to take their new products and samples overseas to participate in the exhibition, so that overseas buyers can see the physical products made in China; at the same time, more than ten digital screens on the booth On the website, buyers can directly inquire and communicate with the person in charge of the company through one-click video connection.
Whether it is the enterprise level or the cross-border e-commerce platform level, they are continuing to help the recovery of my country's foreign trade industry.
"The leading role and demonstration effect of leading enterprises are worth looking forward to. The 'leaders of thousands of enterprises' in various places can point out their faces and leverage the small, medium and micro enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to work together, thereby activating the market and releasing greater effects." Yu Jian said. .
The end of the year is approaching, many benefits are gradually being released, and market confidence and expectations are also rapidly recovering. The growth of my country's foreign trade orders will be the general trend.
Yu Jian said, "I expect more market entities to seize the opportunity, lay a solid foundation for development, enhance the stability of my country's industrial chain and supply chain, and provide competitive products and services to promote the stability and quality improvement of my country's economy and realize the quality of economic operation." effective improvement and reasonable growth in volume.”