Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

AS the first national e-commerce demonstration city in China, Shenzhen has taken a spate of measures to help local e-commerce companies expand their global footprint, continuously promoting institutional and regulatory innovation to facilitate cross-border trade.

Relying on a good manufacturing foundation, superior port conditions and a mature foreign trade system, Shenzhen has continuously improved its industrial ecology and promoted the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce in recent years, the city’s commerce bureau said recently.

Wu Yuanhua, an official from Shenzhen Customs, said Tuesday that over 90% of imported and exported packages have been able to undergo automatic release since Shenzhen Customs carried out a series of regulatory reform measures for cross-border e-commerce.

“The measures have significantly reduced companies’ logistics and labor costs, saved time, improved customs clearance efficiency and enhanced the overseas competitiveness of e-commerce firms,” Wu said.

According to Shenzhen Customs, it has continuously promoted the regulatory reform of cross-border e-commerce and achieved online and one-stop handling of cross-border e-commerce list review, customs clearance, simplified declaration and overseas warehouse filings.

Shenzhen has also worked to cultivate industry leaders and accelerate the pace of cross-border e-commerce businesses going global.

Shenzhen EKD Technology Co. Ltd., with its brand name Goodcang, is a cross-border e-commerce industry leader. The company has achieved rapid growth this year thanks to the city’s preferential policies for cross-border e-commerce.

“The government would regularly learn about our needs and difficulties in operation. We receive subsidies for operating excellent overseas warehouses every year and also obtain some scientific research funds,” Li Yu, EKD’s chief public relations officer, told Shenzhen Daily on Tuesday.

According to the company, its overseas warehouse business covers more than 30 countries, and it has set up over 50 order processing centers in developed countries such as the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Canada. Its overseas warehouses boast an area of over 1 million square meters.

Incomplete statistics from the city’s commerce bureau show that the number of overseas warehouses built and operated by Shenzhen firms in major global markets now exceeds 230, with a floor area of over 2.6 million square meters, accounting for about 1/7 of the country.

The city has also further optimized its logistics network with more international air, rail and sea freight routes to ensure the efficient imports and exports of cross-border e-commerce goods.

The annual output value of Shenzhen’s cross-border e-commerce industry has exceeded 500 billion yuan (US$71.7 billion), as per official statistics.