The cross-border e-commerce trade has become an important tool to stabilize foreign trade and promote consumption thanks to such advantages as online transaction, contactless delivery and short transaction chain, according to the People's Daily on Wednesday.
Data from Chinese customs showed that the country's import and export scale of cross-border e-commerce increased nearly tenfold in the past five years, and its share in foreign trade increased from less than 1 percent in 2015 to 4.9 percent in 2021.
The import and export scale of the cross-border e- commerce reached 1.62 trillion yuan $226.8 billion in 2020, a rise of 25.7 percent year-on-year, and the figures hit 1.92 trillion yuan in 2021, an increase of 18.6 percent from a year earlier in the year.
In the first six months of this year, the import and export transaction volume of cross-border e-commerce increased 28.6 percent year-on-year to maintain steady and rapid growth.
China has approved the establishment of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in another 33 cities and regions, making it the seventh batch of pilot areas, and the total number of pilots reached 165 across the country.
Many of the latest batches of comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce are located in central and western China as well as the country's border areas.
The pilot zones are expected to facilitate the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and to promote and upgrade foreign trade, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The first comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce was established in Hangzhou, East China's province of Zhejiang. In the past seven years, the city has had 49,000 cross-border e-commerce sellers, registered more than 2,000 overseas trademarks, and the trade volume of cross-border e-commerce reached over 100 billion yuan.
In the last three years, the scale of cross-border e-commerce business in Jiangsu has increased by more than four times annually. More than 90 cross-border e-commerce industrial parks and incubation bases have been built, and more than 280 overseas warehouses have been set up covering key markets, such as in countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
The cross-border e-commerce has become a new driving force to stabilize foreign trade under the COVID 19 epidemic, according to the People's Daily.
The cross-border e-commerce has lowered the specialization threshold in international trade, which enables a large number of small and micro entities to become new trade operators, said Sheng Qiuping, vice-minister of commerce.
There are more than 30,000 businesses that have registered for the online integrated service platform of the comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce.
The cross-border e-commerce is a new way to promote Chinese people in consumption upgrading. A report from the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade said that it's characters of decentralization and globalization can meet consumers' needs for tailor-made products.
Logistics is a key factor in cross-border e-commerce services' timeliness and stability. In recent years, innovative models are emerging in logistics, such as building overseas warehouses, return center warehouses and high-quality goods warehouses for export. The complete service complex formed includes warehousing, logistics, customs declaration and clearance, return and exchange, processing and maintenance, packaging and distribution.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the number of overseas warehouses exceeded 2,000 and the area exceeded 16 million square meters.