Workers pack imported milk powder for delivery at a warehouse in Jinyi Comprehensive Bonded Zone in East China's Zhejiang province, Aug. 10, 2023. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By LIANG Yilian

Cross-border e-commerce is generating new drivers of foreign trade. This sector is synergizing with foreign warehouses and other new foreign trade infrastructure, reducing intermediate links, providing direct consumer access, and promoting foreign trade structure optimization.

In early June, the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments issued a new policy on expanding cross-border e-commerce exports and promoting the construction of foreign warehouses.

The policy deploys 15 measures from five aspects: actively cultivating cross-border e-commerce business entities, increasing financial support, strengthening relevant infrastructure and logistics system construction, optimizing supervision and services, and carrying out international cooperation.

China will encourage qualified cross-border e-commerce companies to build sales networks and brand operation centers in foreign markets, and enhance brand cultivation capabilities to expand their global presence, according to the policy guideline.

During the first quarter of 2024, China's cross-border e-commerce trade reached 577.6 billion RMB, rising 9.6 percent year-on-year, of which exports amounted to 448 billion RMB with a growth rate of 14 percent.

China has over 120,000 cross-border e-commerce entities and more than 1,000 cross-border e-commerce industrial parks. The number of overseas warehouses has surpassed 2,500 so far, covering a total area of over 30 million square meters.