North China's shipping hub witnesses strong trade recovery

TIANJIN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Smart transportation machines shuttle back and forth between cold storage shelves at minus 20 degrees Celsius in an industrial park in north China's Tianjin Municipality, pinpointing imported meat products to be delivered to locations across China.

Since its operations began on June 26, the industrial park has been receiving daily imports of frozen meat products from countries such as Spain, Australia and Brazil. The products are then sorted and shipped across the country to fill orders.

"Three smart cold storage units have been put into use in this first phase. There is an inventory of about 15,000 tonnes now, and the utilization rate is more than 50 percent," said Li Chuang, general manager of the Tianjin Park of Universal Cold Zhilian Technology (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., affiliated with the Optima Integration Group (OIG) and focusing on importing frozen products.

To satisfy Chinese consumers' growing demand for diversified and high-quality meat products, the company this year expanded its categories of imported meat products, Li said.

"The cost and time of customs clearance have been reduced, and the goods turnover efficiency is faster," said Feng Guan, vice director of the OIG Institute.

As the core international shipping area in northern China, Tianjin is accelerating its building into a world-class port city.

In the first half of 2023, Tianjin Port saw its cargo throughput reach 241 million tonnes, up 2.1 percent year on year. The port handled over 11.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers during the period, up 8 percent year on year and setting a new record, according to the Tianjin Port (Group) Co., Ltd.

A cross-border trade services company based in Tianjin recently imported a batch of beauty cosmetics from Europe and the United States.

"Our number of brands increased by 20 percent year on year. By expanding our e-commerce sales channels, our sales continue to improve," said Zhang Yihai, the company's chairman.

"In the first half, I went to Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) and entered agreements with various enterprises in fields such as cosmetics. The amount would total tens of millions of yuan," Zhang said, adding that he plans to expand the company's business opportunities in emerging cross-border e-commerce markets like Indonesia and Malaysia.

Zhang recently welcomed a dozen overseas business groups to Tianjin. "China's huge consumption market attracts many foreign companies to seek new opportunities here. My partners have full confidence in trade and investment cooperation with China," Zhang said.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, cross-border e-commerce foreign trade totaled 1.1 trillion yuan (about 154.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months, up 16 percent year on year.

"Cross-border e-commerce has become an indispensable way for China to carry out foreign trade, which helps enterprises to smooth their channels and conduct global trade more efficiently," said Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

China has also introduced a number of policies and measures to smooth import and export logistics, facilitate cross-border trade, and innovate in the development of foreign trade.

The Europe-based Louis Dreyfus Company is a beneficiary of these policies and has factories in various locations in China, including Tianjin and Guangdong.

China's economic vitality has gradually recovered and trade facilitation has been improving, and those two things together have a direct impact on multinational groups conducting business in China, said Sun Yonghua, head of corporate affairs, North Asia, at Louis Dreyfus Company.

In the first half, the company's oilseed processing in China was higher than it was in the same period last year, meeting the needs of a broader market, Sun said.

Data shows that China's foreign trade maintained steady growth in the first half, with total imports and exports of goods exceeding 20 trillion yuan, up 2.1 percent year on year.

ITM (Tianjin) Mechanic Equipment Co., Ltd. has been engaged in the production and sale of water treatment equipment and related accessories in Tianjin since 2002. It recently received a new order from a Polish customer, and the sale is expected to bring in about 100 million yuan, according to the company's president Shin Eun Shik, who hails from the ROK.

"China continues to expand its imports of high-quality consumer goods. And in addition to exports of labor-intensive, mechanical and electrical products, China is bringing more new products to the world -- electric manned vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells -- to meet the needs of more people and enlarge its trade volume, which helps promote global economic recovery," according to Zhang Yansheng.