Exporters brave odds, eye sustained growth

Citing Customs data from Yiwu, Zhejiang province, Chinese media outlet Caixin reported that in late March, around 800 container trucks completed Customs clearance procedures there per day, up from the average level of 400 in February.

With an abundant variety of commodities and convenient international logistics, Yiwu is often referred to as "the world's supermarket". It is also seen as a barometer of China's export activity.

Data from the General Administration of Customs showed China's goods exports increased 0.9 percent year-on-year to 3.5 trillion yuan ($511.4 billion) in the January-February period, beating market expectations. In the first quarter, the country's exports surged 8.4 percent year-on-year to 5.65 trillion yuan.

"With the global economy slowing, Chinese enterprises must take stronger measures to tap the potential of external demand to shore up exports' role in overall economic growth," said Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

"China has the world's largest and most comprehensive industrial system. It can produce high-quality and cost-effective products the world needs. Chinese enterprises are very agile and flexible to adjust their products and services to meet new needs and demands as the external environment changes."

Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the China Association of Policy Science's Economic Policy Committee, said the dampening demand worldwide has been a major drag on China's foreign trade this year, and maintaining stable growth of foreign trade and balance of payments will be high on the country's agenda.

"On top of this, upgrading the quality of foreign trade should run in parallel. Chinese companies should improve the quality of their own products, so that other countries are willing to place orders. China should be ready to export quality products whenever the global market calls for them."

Safewell's Wang said the company is attuned to the situation, which is reflected in the upturn in new orders. He attributed this to efforts to complete long-needed upgrades during the COVID-19 period as the government rolled out a flurry of relief policies like financial support and tax and fee cuts. Such policies, he said, helped businesses such as Safewell to survive and thrive in trying times.

To be sure, Safewell faced hardship during the pandemic period. But, by leveraging tax breaks and extra deductions of R&D expenses, the company fully harnessed its adequate cash flow to upgrade existing products with additional features, to better meet customers' needs.

"The shutdown is not a boon to manufacturing plants, but that does not mean it is devoid of opportunity for plants to improve their products," he said. "When plants reopen, there will be a pent-up demand for products. Upgrades of products will pay for themselves many times over."

Wang said Safewell's new product, though priced higher than the previous version, has won broad recognition from its existing as well as new customers. Armed with orders from many firms this year, Safewell has gone in for mass production of the new product.