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B&R News: China’s free trade zones facilitate market exploration
28 Aug 2018

 

China’s growing needs for imported products and its opening-up policy have driven the establishment of pilot free trade zones in several major cities over the past five years, including the Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone, which opened last year with the aim of expanding business opportunities in the populous province in central China.

 

China has imported over 200.57 million liters of wine in the first quarter of 2018, worth 792 million US dollars, according to the China Association for Import and Export of Wine and Spirits (CAWS).

 

Imported wines on display at a store in Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone. (CGTN Photo)

 

China’s imports of alcoholic drinks grew 9.1 percent year-on-year in 2017, and growth of wine imports reached 17.95 percent in the same period, according to official data.

 

To meet the growing demand for overseas food, beverages and other products, free trade zones can now be found all over the country, each with a different focus.

 

Shanghai FTZ is the first free trade zone in China, which specifically focuses on import and export trade. Henan Pilot Free Trade Zone is the center of logistics with its central location. Tianjin FTZ is the only of its kind in Northern China, concentrating on shipping, financial leasing and high-end manufacturing. Guangdong FTZ is the connecting point of Mainland China to Hong Kong and Macau and the shipping origin from China to Europe and Africa. Shaanxi FTZ is western China’s center for logistics and technical cooperation.

 

Apart from free trade zones, online B2B platforms emerge quickly. SRCIC has set up the www.esilkroad.com in 2016 to promote cross-border e-commerce. The eSilkRoad platform has created a record sale of 300 thousand bottles of Georgian wine in an hour.

 

Source: partly from CGTN