Zhejiang witnesses rebound in overseas business

Zhejiang province’s foreign trade picked up steam in May and last month following a lackluster performance in April — continuing the robust growth seen in the first quarter.

Latest figures from the customs authorities in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, show that the province’s total imports and exports reached 1.18 trillion yuan ($174.9 billion) in the second quarter, a rise of 11.2 percent year-on-year.

In the first half of this year, Zhejiang’s imports and exports stood at 2.26 trillion yuan, up by 17.3 percent year-on-year. The exports value reached 1.66 trillion yuan, a rise of 20.3 percent year-on-year, while the imports value was 594.74 billion yuan, up by 9.8 percent on last year.

According to Hangzhou Customs, Zhejiang’s foreign trade in the first six months contributed the most to the growth of such trade among all China’s provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

An official at the provincial department of commerce, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Zhejiang rallied significantly because of the raft of extraordinary policy measures that have been implemented, which helped stabilize business expectations.”

In addition to arranging chartered business flights and increasing the number of scheduled flights, the authorities in Zhejiang have announced a package of policy initiatives, which include helping businesspeople enter and leave China, and organizing overseas trade exhibitions.

In the first half of this year, 89,000 foreign-trade enterprises in Zhejiang were engaged in imports and exports, a rise of 6.6 percent compared with last year. Some 82,000 of these enterprises were private businesses, a rise of 7.1 percent on the same period last year.

The import and export value of private enterprises grew by 20.9 percent year-on-year to 1.74 trillion yuan, accounting for 77.1 percent of the province’s total, up by 2.3 percentage points, according to official figures.