Chinese authorities have stressed the importance of the development of warehouses overseas to inject fresh momentum into China’s foreign trade and ensure the stability of industry and supply chains. The central government will encourage traditional trading companies, cross-border e-commerce businesses and providers of logistics services to set up overseas warehouses and improve the level of digitalization, according to a guideline issued on July 9. By 2025, China will have set up about 100 modern overseas warehousing businesses. According to the Ministry of Commerce, Chinese companies now operate more than 1,900 overseas warehouses, covering a total floor space of 13.5 million square meters. Almost 90% of those facilities are in North America, Europe and Asia. The development of overseas warehouses has been high on the government’s agenda in recent years. During a May visit to Ningbo, Zhejiang province, Premier Li Keqiang used a video link to speak with workers from an overseas warehouse in Germany. On June 22, he reiterated the importance of such facilities at an executive meeting of the State Council, saying that the development of overseas warehouses will help the country’s brands go global, explore the international market and improve the efficiency of value chains. He also invited an executive from Zongteng Group, an overseas warehousing and logistics provider, to speak at a State Council symposium with economists and business leaders.
Li Xingqian, Director General of MOFCOM's Foreign Trade Department, told a news briefing that overseas warehouses are a new type of infrastructure to drive the growth of foreign trade. Such facilities can enable quicker customs clearance and faster delivery, with some offering one- or two-day delivery services in destination countries, he added. Exporters can also optimize their inventories and minimize possible losses from unmarketable goods with the warehouses, which can provide amenities such as localized return and repair services and improve the shopping experience for consumers, he said. He noted that such facilities will help micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to go global, and also drive Chinese brands and products from startups and innovative companies to grow their markets internationally.
Companies that operate the warehouses will receive incentives to build sound logistics systems and extend services to the upper and lower ends of supply chains. Song Xin, an e-commerce and logistics analyst with the Investment Banking Department at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), said overseas warehouses have become key drivers of growth in the nation’s cross-border e-commerce sector. Wu Qi, General Manager of CB International E-Commerce, which operates warehouses in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, said the policy document offers “the most proactive support” for businesses in the sector, the China Daily reports.
