Workshop of an automobile control system enterprise in Ningbo. [Photo by Xu Neng]

　　By Dong Na

　　On December 10, Ningbo's open economy ushered in a historic moment- in the first 11 months of this year, Ningbo accomplished an import and export volume of 1.09 trillion yuan, an increase of 22.2% year-on-year.

　　This is the first time Ningbo's foreign trade exceeded the trillion-level threshold, becoming the country's sixth "trillion city in foreign trade" following Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Suzhou, and Dongguan.

　　Opened the Door to

　　the International Market

　　As one out of every four Ningbo people is engaged in work related to foreign trade, the city is a classic example of highly advanced export-oriented economy.

　　On December 11 of this year, the 20^th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO was marked. On this special occasion, Ningbo's foreign trade breakthrough became another milestone to echo the celebration.

　　Foreign trade in Ningbo started to blossom as early as in 1988 when the city was recognized as one of the cities under separate state planning and given the authority to manage import and export for the first time. After years of hard work, in 2020, Ningbo ranked sixth in China with 978.69 billion yuan of import and export volume, and fifth in China with 640.7 billion yuan of export volume.

　　In 2001, the year of China's accession to the WTO, Ningbo had a mere of 2,184 foreign trade firms with a trade volume less than 10 billion U.S. dollars. A decade later, the number of market entities involved in Ningbo's foreign trade had doubled by 5 times, while the import and export volume by 10 times. Today, more than 23,000 entities take part in the city's foreign trade, creating a total volume of more than one trillion yuan. Compared with 2001, the total volume and industry size increased respectively by about 10 times and 16 times.

　　Ying Xiuzhen, Vice President of China-Base Ningbo Group (CBNB), has been engaged in foreign trade for nearly 40 years. In her opinion, China's accession to the WTO has brought sweeping changes to foreign trade and opened the door to the international market for Chinese manufacturing.

　　Ying still remembers that in the 1990s, the commodities at the Canton Fair were mostly agricultural products or primary processed products such as pullovers, refrigerator stickers, and electronic clocks. After joining the WTO, China has created a very well-developed supply chain. "The transformation from 'Made in China' to 'Made with Wisdom' is very remarkable," Ying said.

　　High-quality Development

　　of Private Enterprises

　　During the past 20 years, many "front-runner" of Ningbo's foreign trade now, started the journey of high-quality development with the help of overseas markets.

　　Now a "trade giant" whose business spans foreign comprehensive services, cross-border e-commerce, bulk imports, and auto sales, CBNB has been rooted in Ningbo for decades, starting from a small enterprise. Last year, the import and export volume of CBNB reached 28.1 billion yuan, not only keeping the championship of foreign trade in the city for many years, but also ranking among the top 500 private enterprises in China.

　　Loctek started to engage in foreign trade in 2002 when its main business was the production of stents. Since 2011, Loctek has created its own brand to take on a significant share in the European and American markets with its electric lifting tables. Now, it is listed among the national manufacturing "single area champions".

　　The Beifa Group, a long-time player in the pen industry, has not only succeeded in the manufacturing of high-end pen refill, but also expanded its business to integrate the production chain and platforms, leading more upstream and downstream enterprises to go abroad. Now their products sell in more than 200 countries around the world.

　　To Build a New Type of

　　International Trade Center

　　As a national advanced manufacturing base, Ningbo has a strong manufacturing foundation. A number of private enterprises with excellent quality and vitality have emerged.

　　At present, Ningbo has 63 national manufacturing "single area champions" and 182 national "little giant" enterprises, which are ranked first and third respectively in the cities.

　　At the same time, not only does Ningbo Zhoushan Port send "Made in China" products to all over the world, but also introduces more and more global fine goods into China and delivers them to thousands of households.

　　With the "Belt and Road" initiative, emerging markets have become important drivers of Ningbo's foreign trade growth. In 2020, Ningbo's trade with countries along the "Belt and Road" accounted for one-fifth of the city's trade volume.

　　While expanding the market, Ningbo is also using digitalization to continuously reshape trade, cross-border e-commerce is becoming a new growth engine of Ningbo's foreign trade. On November 11 this year, Ningbo became the first city with 100 billion yuan of cross-border e-commerce retail imports.

　　According to the city's plan, Ningbo will strive to accomplish more than 2 trillion yuan of import and export volume in 2025, and even more to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce, digital trade, service trade, and other emerging industries to build the city into a new type of international trade center.