Foreign trade in positive growth since May

Monthly total foreign trade volume in Songjiang has seen positive growth for eight consecutive months since last May. The district’s annual total foreign trade volume in 2020 amounted to 305.57 billion yuan (US$47.27 billion), up 13.1 percent year on year, ranking No. 2 in Shanghai under the category.

The resilient and competitive development of Songjiang’s import-export volume has been achieved thanks to the district’s encouraging government policies, friendly business environment and relatively complete industrial chains.

To ensure foreign-invested companies, the backbone of the district’s foreign trade sector, resumed work in the first half of 2020, district officials helped them with the purchase of face masks and disinfectant while taking advantage of the comprehensive bonded zone’s global purchasing power to satisfy the companies’ resources and logistics needs.

Toppan Leefung Packaging (Shanghai) Co, a subsidiary of Toppan Printing in Japan and a high-end packaging solutions provider based in Songjiang since 2003, decided in mid-February 2020 to invest US$30.1 million in building a health-care packaging production base in the district when the country was in the grip of COVID-19.

“We were considering the investment as early as 2019. When the epidemic struck China at the end of 2019, managers in our headquarters in Japan hesitated. But district officials’ diligent work in helping us solve all kinds of problems when we applied for work resumption strengthened our determination to further cultivate our business in Songjiang,” said Dai Jingcheng, general manager of the company.

Government policies were also released to reduce foreign companies’ operating costs, support small and medium-sized companies to expand their global market and offer subsidies for foreign companies that had purchased export credit insurance.

“All kinds of support policies in the district boost our confidence in expanding our global market,” said Zhang Song, manager of the foreign trade division of Shanghai Huitian New Material Co.

The company’s export volume exceeded 200 million yuan in 2020, up 46 percent year on year.

The district’s integrated circuit industry achieved an export volume accounting for 70 percent of its total annual foreign trade volume.

This was achieved thanks to the district’s relatively complete IC industrial chains. In addition to industrial giant TSMC, the district also has the OmniVision Technologies, AST and Nissi High-tech Services (Shanghai) Co companies.