Three cities in Shandong, namely Dongying, Weifang, and Linyi, were recently approved by the State Council to establish comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones.

Including the previously approved Qingdao, Weihai, Jinan, and Yantai, Shandong now has seven cities to build national comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in a bid to transform foreign trade business processes and data sharing and promote the digital transformation and facilitation of trade supervision.

Containers are unloaded at Qingdao Port in Shandong province. [Photo by Yu Fangping/For China Daily]

Shandong's cross-border e-commerce industry has been booming in recent years, with 136 provincial cross-border e-commerce entities and more than 10,000 traditional foreign trade and manufacturing enterprises using cross-border e-commerce to achieve new developments, said the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce.

Since the beginning of this year, traditional foreign trade has been greatly affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, but cross-border e-commerce and other new types of business have risen in response, contributing to the development of foreign trade.

Official statistics showed that in the first quarter of this year, Shandong's cross-border e-commerce was developing healthily, with related imports and exports valued at 740 million yuan ($104.65 million), up 114.6 percent year on year. Among them, exports totaled 560 million yuan, up 90.8 percent from the same period last year, while imports totaled 190 million yuan, up 242.9 percent year on year.

A total of 105 cities in China have been approved to build comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones to promote industrial transformation and upgrading, stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, and promote high-quality development.

Industry insiders have said that cross-border e-commerce eliminates time and space constraints and cuts intermediate links and address information asymmetry between the supply and demand sides. It can also create new growth opportunities for countries, businesses, and consumer groups and help ensure that global supplies, industrial chains, and foreign trade operate smoothly.

"The establishment of comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones tangible benefits to enterprises," said Jing Jing, an official from the Dongying Bureau of Commerce.

The Dongying comprehensive bonded zone [Photo/dzwww.com]

According to Jing, enterprises in the zone will enjoy favorable policies related to taxes, clearance procedures, and more.

Last year, Dongying's foreign trade was valued at 162.91 billion yuan, ranking fourth among cities in the province. The city has a solid foundation for developing cross-border ecommerce with a relatively complete industrial chain and supply chain and strong transport links to global markets.

In recent years, cross-border e-commerce has been developing rapidly in Weifang. The city has 27 e-commerce platforms, nearly 200,000 e-commerce enterprises, and 260 e-commerce brands and trading platforms.