Inside the headquarter of Galanz Group, one leading home appliance brand in Shunde Foshan, all assembly lines are running at full capacity, going hectic all hours long. At Galanz, international trade orders are said to have increased by over 30%, the first quarter of this year. For Zhongge Furniture, the new year entails a bright prospect, as its large-scale tech factories in Gaoming are picking up more construction progress.

That's a snapshot of many local enterprises in Foshan after the Chinese New Year. Despite the ongoing pandemic, Foshan exporters sought new robust opportunities out from this never-seen-before crisis.

How're local enterprises coping with market resurge?

Spring is usually a booming season for various industries in Foshan, as evidenced by strong track record in sectors like beverage, home appliance and ceramics.

For GDXL, a Nanhai-based firm expert in molding equipment and services to the PET plastics industry, time seems to be the magic spell for business growth in the early months of a year. Jiang Xiaoping, its General Manager, said that the company is hoped to see a steady growth of 10% in overseas orders, compared to the same period last year, whereas the major growing markets include the Europe, Japan and Middle East.

Staff dealing with inventory at XINGX

Trucks lining up to ship goods at XINGX

Things are also hectic at XINGX, a professional refrigeration equipment provider, as orders have long stacked up, with some due as far as in this June. Zhong Wanhua, Minister of Foreign Trade at Xingxing stressed the strong rebound prominently comes from the European and American countries. Since the pandemic stroke the trading sector as early as in 2019, Xingxing has never suspended any of its operation, but instead reaped in more orders and become the largest exporter of commercial refrigerators in China.

Only Going Global? And Further!

In 2021, Foshan has created new records in international trade, registering a total value of 616.07 billion yuan. The virus might have made things more unpredictable and volatile, but Foshan has demonstrated strong resilience, and also a more global view.

Hisense, with strong presence in Shunde over the years, aims something bigger when paving out global market. In 2021, after 3 production lines were launched in Thailand, Hisense invested in another manufacturing base in Mexico, Hisense Smart Home Appliance Industrial Park (Mexico), a strategic move to allow quality refrigerators, washing machines, ovens or air conditioners to enter neighboring markets like Mexico, America and Canada. As an emerging trustworthy brand in these countries, Hisense has also become one of the official sponsors at 2022 Qatar World Cup.

RCEP: another trump card for Foshan enterprises

On January 1, 2022, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into force. The framework encapsulates a free trade zone that has the largest population, economic output, trade scale and the most diverse market entities. Under the RCEP, zero tariffs will follow more than 90% of goods between members.

Eagle Ceramicslit up fire to mark a new start in 2022

For export-oriented corporations in Foshan, the RECP comes up at the perfect timing. “I’ve been checking up on the agreement for a while. Among these first beneficiary members, many of them are our key markets and it definitely helps with our expansion. There were some anti-dumping cases in some countries, but now the agreement can reduce costs for exporters. That’s a tangible policy that we can actually benefit from.” said Zhang Wuliang, Manager Assistant at the International Trade Department of Eagle Ceramics.