Wan Xiaotian, reporter of "Contour" of China Business News, Beijing report
39-year-old Ding Yandong has become an "Internet celebrity". In the past six months, he has frequently appeared on the front pages of People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Ningbo Daily and many short video reports. Although he believes that he just did very common things that a foreign trade person should do: go abroad to conduct business negotiations and participate in exhibitions.
However, he was one of the first people to take the first chartered flight organized by the Ningbo Municipal Government when he went abroad for the first time since the outbreak. On July 10, 2022, a group of 36 people, including Ding Yandong, the head of Ningbo Remax Doors and Windows Co., Ltd., flew from Ningbo to Budapest, Hungary. This charter flight was exactly what he needed most urgently, allowing him to maintain and consolidate customers in a timely manner. Although there were some twists and turns, it was full of rewards, which prompted him to go abroad for the second time at the end of November.
"This is a return to normal. Maybe we need encouragement and confidence to return to normal now. It is only natural to go out to negotiate orders." Ding Yandong said.
From July 10 to September 21, three more charter flights flew from Ningbo. The last charter flight to Budapest had 136 people on board. In the first half of 2022, Ningbo's import and export value was 632.25 billion yuan, ranking sixth among cities in the country, and its dependence on foreign trade was once as high as 80%.
In late November 2022, Suzhou City organized a charter flight to Japan, composed of heads of government investment promotion and foreign trade enterprises. On December 4, Zhejiang Province launched the "Operation of Thousands of Groups and Tens of Thousands of Enterprises to Expand Markets and Grab Orders". From December this year to the end of 2023, Zhejiang Province plans to organize more than 10,000 foreign trade companies to participate in exhibitions and visit customers overseas. On December 9, the charter flight to Europe jointly organized by Wuxi City and Suzhou City set off. In addition, Chengdu City, Jiaxing City and other places have carried out such activities.
On December 23, Ding Yandong said in the circle of friends: "The darkest moment will eventually pass, and the sun will always shine in the world." The picture is a photo of a truck, which was shipped until 11:30 pm that day. It was the "darkest moment" he experienced six months ago.
Darkest Moment
"I feel very anxious. It's really a time of life and death." In June 2022, Ding Yandong faced an order volume that had not improved much since April. Some workers in the factory were furloughed, and only one of the four or five production lines was open. It can be said that this is the most difficult time in the 11 years since the company was founded.
In April 2022, downward pressure on orders became prominent. Ding Yandong said that orders dropped by 40% in April. There were many reasons, mainly the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, inflation in Europe, and reduced domestic demand. Customers mainly place orders on a monthly basis, but some also place orders on a quarterly basis.
, a Polish customer that we have cooperated with for 89 years, also experienced changes and was acquired by others. Although there had been constant communication, Ding Yandong finally learned the news. This customer places orders every year, and the order volume is relatively large, accounting for nearly one-third of his company's annual order volume.
The situation became passive in Ding Yandong's eyes. He guessed: "Because he couldn't meet us, he couldn't talk to us directly." All of his products were developed by them, so he was not worried about finding other suppliers for the time being. However, after connecting with the new company's team, the other party put forward some strict requirements, such as being unwilling to pay a deposit, cutting the price in half, etc., which he could not accept.
Ding Yandong’s business spans all over the world. In 2019, he spent more than 60 days visiting customers abroad, including the Middle East , Oceania , South America, and Europe. Based on risk diversification, he does not like to concentrate all his customers in one market. Visiting customers directly or communicating face-to-face with them at exhibitions is how most foreign traders, including him, do business.
The global outbreak of COVID-19 interrupted all of this. He started operating , Alibaba International Station, and other online platforms, which he had never touched before. Ding Yandong spent a lot of effort on these platforms to showcase the advantages of the products, and paid more than 100,000 yuan in service fees every year. Constantly sorting out and contacting potential customers at previous exhibitions, we also had some cooperation during the epidemic.
The epidemic is not always difficult, sometimes business is easy.Ding Yandong feels that 2021 is not bad. At that time, because there was no confidence in China's logistics, customers placed panic orders and stored a lot of extra goods for inventory. But such days are short-lived after all.
After the outbreak, raw material prices skyrocketed, shipping costs increased, shipping capacity decreased, and the market weakened. "There are many problems with orders that can be covered up." Therefore, when problems with customer orders appeared, he felt desperate and had an increasingly strong desire to go abroad. He wanted to meet and communicate with customers to see what was going on with those customers who had not yet placed orders.
Ningbo’s 24,000 small and medium-sized foreign trade companies face similar problems to Ding Yandong. "I don't think I will die if I am infected with the new coronavirus, but if I don't have an order, I will be in big trouble."
Charter flights are like a timely rain. Ding Yandong learned from the Ningbo Commerce Bureau official account that the government was organizing a charter flight, so he signed up on the mini program. On May 30, Fei Jianming, director of the Foreign Trade Promotion Department of the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce, shared the news in his circle of friends.
When he heard that charter flights would be organized to solve the problem of entry and exit difficulties for enterprises, Fei Jianming couldn't imagine it. "How to do this kind of thing?" He remembered that since the end of May, Wang Hao, the governor of Zhejiang Province, had repeatedly proposed to increase efforts to stabilize foreign trade and speed up the implementation of the business charter policy.
Zhejiang is a major foreign trade province. Hangzhou Customs data shows that from 2012 to 2021, Zhejiang's foreign trade dependence fluctuated between 47.0% and 57.4%. The ten-year average foreign trade dependence was 51.9%, which is higher than the national level in the same period. Foreign trade is an important factor in driving Zhejiang's economic growth and employment.
According to the Ningbo Municipal Commerce Bureau's monitoring of 1,982 companies with annual import and export sales exceeding 10 million US dollars, as of the end of June 2022, more than 40% of companies had a year-on-year decline in export orders on hand. In early December 2022, Ningbo's foreign trade companies' on-hand and newly-signed orders index was below the 50% boom-bust line for six consecutive weeks, and exports to the United States fell by more than 10% for three consecutive months.
In 2022, foreign exhibitions will resume one after another, but it is not that easy to go abroad, and with the implementation of the flight circuit breaker mechanism, it is difficult to buy air tickets back home. According to data released by the Civil Aviation Administration, from January to the end of May 2022, circuit breakers were implemented 312 times, reducing inbound passenger flights by 768.
charter does not have the problem of fuses. With the support of the province, Fei Jianming said, meetings were held one after another to implement the plan, and the Department of Commerce negotiated with relevant departments to ask how the process should be done. "Slowly at least a framework is coming out."
takes off
From the establishment of Ningbo's special outbound class for business personnel on June 13, 2022, it took 27 days for the charter flight to take off.
"We have maintained a close relationship with the aviation system for a long time. We contacted China Eastern Airlines immediately and formulated a flight plan very quickly." Zhang Yan, director of the Ningbo Municipal Commerce Bureau, said in an interview with Zhejiang Voice that thanks to Ningbo's China-Central and Eastern Europe policy, Budapest is willing to accept charter flights from Ningbo, and the local airport is willing to cooperate with return flights. The destinations of the first batch of two charter flights are Budapest and Milan, Italy, and the destinations of the second batch of charter flights are both in Budapest.
All parties' procedures were completed, and on July 10, 36 people were on the plane named MU7101 bound for Budapest, 6 of whom were public servants, including Fei Jianming.
Fei Jianming originally estimated that a total of 80 people could take this flight, but the actual result was further halved on this basis. The attendance rate is not high, mainly because the visa approval rate is too low. Fei Jianming said that the visa approval rate is within 50%. Due to the principle of diplomatic reciprocity, when going abroad, you need to provide sufficient proof to the local embassy, otherwise your visa will be "annihilated." In addition, some people who obtained visas were worried about being infected with the new coronavirus. July is a holiday in European countries and there are no large-scale exhibitions, so they gave up traveling.
More than three months later, when Ding Yandong went abroad by himself for the second time, it took a long time to apply for a visa. "It's not as easy to handle as it was before the epidemic." He said that it requires a lot of information, including company statements, etc., which are very trivial. Before the epidemic, it could be done in about 10 days, but now it takes at least two or three weeks. In order to complete the procedures, Ding Yandong found a scalper and queued up to grab a number at the consulate of the destination country in Shanghai.
With the help of the government, Ding Yandong successfully obtained his visa the day before his departure on July 10. At 4 o'clock in the morning, he got up and checked his luggage. There was one 28-inch suitcase and one 20-inch suitcase each, as well as a backpack. They were basically full. Because there were many hardware products, the luggage weighed 30 kilograms, of which 25 kilograms were samples and information.
This is not a problem for Ding Yandong. "As long as we can go out, these can be overcome for us." He explained that the differences between Eastern and Western cultures mean that some things are particularly important in their eyes, such as the difference between different colors. He must see something in the correct color, otherwise he will not be able to understand it.
At the pre-trip meeting, Fei Jianming, as the leader of the trip, gave instructions on what to pay attention to while abroad. He will still worry about all kinds of things going wrong, such as losing his passport abroad, having his luggage stolen or robbed, or being infected with COVID-19 and not being able to take a chartered flight back home.
Ding Yandong had psychological expectations about being infected with the new coronavirus. After successfully completing the 12-day trip, someone in the team was infected. At that time, Ding Yandong sympathized with the other person. After returning to China, he also tested positive for nucleic acid. Ding Yandong laughed and said that he was envious that they could rest in a hotel in Italy and continue to visit customers.
Despite this, Ding Yandong is still quite satisfied with the gains from going abroad. After a 12-hour flight, the charter flight arrived in Budapest at 4 pm local time. Without stopping, he transferred to Poland to communicate with customers. Two days later, an order worth US$1 million for the whole year was successfully signed (nearly one-third of the annual order volume). After the old partner
was acquired, it underwent transformation and upgrading, which shocked Ding Yandong greatly. "From an ordinary factory similar to ours to a modern factory with tens of thousands of square meters." Ding Yandong feels that the progress has been too great, and he must also make progress, upgrade equipment, and match his partners.
12 days, 9 customers, no arrangements except for the company's weekend break, Ding Yandong is visiting customers and keeping in touch with each other. When he finally returned to milan, he did not take the train as planned, but took a taxi, which took an hour and cost more than 190 euros. "Celebrate!"
On July 21, 2022, the second business charter flight took off from Ningbo, carrying 12 foreign trade people and arrived in Milan, Italy, and at the same time picked up Fei Jianming, Ding Yandong and his party.
More than a month later, on August 30, the second batch of Ningbo business charter flights flew to Budapest, with 75 people going. On September 21, 136 people set off from Ningbo again. At this time, they were going to leading industry exhibitions such as the Cologne International Hardware Tools Fair in Germany and the Frankfurt Lighting Fair in Germany. Some companies also went to France, Italy, Spain and other places. So far, Ningbo has organized 2 batches of charter flights with 8 flights, serving a total of 600 people and completing orders worth US$2 billion.
Changes are happening
"You have done what we thought of but found difficult to do." After the first charter flight took off, this was what Zhang Yan heard most from colleagues in other cities.
Jiaxing City’s foreign trade dependence reached 59.5% in 2021. In July 2022, the Jiaxing City Commerce Bureau also began planning charter flights out of the country to grab orders and merchants. Zhang Yueqin, director of the Jiaxing Municipal Commerce Bureau, said that through online and offline publicity organizations, more than 80 people have signed up to participate. Later, due to the complicated epidemic situation in Japan, the charter flight plan was shelved.
It was also at that time that the Asia Textile and Clothing Fair (AFF) in Tokyo, Japan, usually held in September, was postponed to December. The last time Hua Yifan went to Japan was 4 years ago. He was the business manager of Jiaxing Shanhui Clothing Co., Ltd. In previous years, AFF company would send people to participate.
On the morning of December 4, a charter flight organized by Jiaxing City flew from Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Tokyo, Japan, to carry out seven-day business activities. There were 50 companies on the charter flight, mainly textile and garment companies, with a total of 96 people, including 8 people from the "logistics team" composed of the Commerce Bureau and other departments. Hua Yifan and two colleagues were on this trip. He said that the visa had a green channel from the government, and it took about two weeks from preparing the documents to passing it. The ticket price was half of the selling price at the time, and the government borne a lot of expenses.
Prior to this, Hua Yifan's company participated in the exhibition in the form of online exhibitions or agency exhibitions. He introduced that for online exhibitions, product pictures and introductions are uploaded to the APP.To participate in the exhibition on behalf of the company, the exhibits will be sent to the local area through the co-organizer of Jiaxing , and will be put on display by specialized staff. If there are customers interested in the product or company, the exhibition staff will make a video call with them to communicate. This was the way to participate in the previous AFF exhibition.
Obviously this method does not work well. "Exhibiting in person allows us to communicate directly with customers, and we have more initiative." Hua Yifan said that online exhibitions and agency exhibitions are relatively passive. It is not clear how many customers have seen the product, and the APP system is not perfect and the information is incomplete. Therefore, even if the government does not organize this time, they will go to the site if they can. "Customer acquisition in the past was mainly based on exhibitions." The
exhibition will be held from December 7th to 9th, leaving two days free for companies to arrange appointments with customers. In order to avoid Japan's morning rush hour, Hua Yifan went out at 7 a.m. This is also the epidemic prevention advice of the Jiaxing government. If you want to take public transportation, try to stagger the peak hours. We have also prepared disposable gloves, masks, disinfectant wipes, antigens and other supplies for companies, and rented three buses to transport companies to and from the hotel and the venue.
It was raining on the first day. Hua Yifan first visited around Tokyo, took the Shinkansen to Osaka that afternoon, and then came back the next evening to prepare for the exhibition. They brought the company's new products to customers, as well as mung bean cake, osmanthus cake, and other special desserts.
When he came back at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, he found that some large supermarkets had closed. His residence was in Ikebukuro, which is a central business district. "In the past, we wouldn't close before eleven or twelve o'clock. Now many places are already dark."
The changes in the economy are also reflected in the orders of Hua Yifan's Japanese customers. Hua Yifan said that although the company's total order volume has not declined, the profit margin is not as good as before the epidemic, and the orders have become more and more fragmented. For example, in the past, there were 2,000 pieces of one style, and now it is still 2,000 pieces, but it has become 4 styles and 10 styles.
Some customers will not lower the price directly, but will ask Huayifan if it has any cooperative factories in Southeast Asia. However, he said that for those with quality requirements, he would not compare prices like this. After the implementation of RCEP (referring to Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ), Southeast Asia's clothing exports to Japan will be tax-free, and China will gradually become tax-free in a few years.
Return to normalcy
The effect of on-site participation in the exhibition is immediate. After returning to China on December 10, Hua Yifan held a video conference at the quarantine hotel and discussed with colleagues to prepare sample clothes for receiving intended orders at the exhibition.
At this time, Ding Yandong was quarantined in a hotel in Qingdao. The first time he went abroad was fruitful. In order to plan orders for the next year, he went abroad again on November 26 to visit customers in the United Kingdom and Israel, and to participate in the Dubai International Exhibition (BIG5).
When Fei Jianming's Ningbo government delegation visited the United Arab Emirates, they learned that Ding Yandong had already arrived. On December 4, Zhejiang launched the “Operation of Thousands of Groups and Enterprises to Expand the Market and Grab Orders”. Several business delegations were formed by Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce as well as representatives from commerce bureaus and enterprises in Ningbo, Jiaxing and other places, and went to Europe, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and other places to participate in exhibitions and conduct business negotiations.
On December 6, Li Feng set out with the Ningbo government affairs delegation. He is the person in charge of Shanghai Kaichen Exhibition Co., Ltd. to prepare in advance for the 8th China ( Saudi Arabia ) Commodity Intelligent Manufacturing Exhibition to be held on December 14.
Before the epidemic, Li Feng spent half of the year in Saudi Arabia and the other half in the country. The first overseas exhibition after the outbreak was the 7th China Intelligent Manufacturing Exhibition held in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2021. Now it is exactly one year later, and the situation is completely different.
At that time, most people from Chinese companies could not come out. Li Feng said that companies used the method of participating in the exhibition on their behalf, negotiating online, and letting agents and translators make introductions at the booth. In the last session, 83 Chinese companies participated in the exhibition online. Li Feng needs comprehensive protection when going abroad to hold exhibitions. He must wear protective clothing and a mask on the plane. "When you arrive at the local area, after putting on the mask, you only need to go out without drinking a drop of water or eating a meal. If you are really hungry, wash your hands twice with alcohol in an open place away from the crowd, then take off the mask and wash it again before eating. Put on the mask immediately after eating."The quarantine time was long. He remembered that he had to be quarantined for 5 days when entering Saudi Arabia. He was quarantined for 14 days in Guangzhou after returning home and another 7 days in Shanghai.
Nowadays, more and more Chinese companies are showing up at exhibitions in the Middle East. At this year's China Intelligent Manufacturing Exhibition, there were 168 Chinese exhibitors and 228 booths. Li Feng no longer sticks to strict epidemic prevention. He lamented that these markets were originally owned by the Chinese. Companies in Vietnam, India, and Turkey had taken advantage of the situation.
Ding Yandong also felt this way. He saw at the BIG5 exhibition in Dubai that the Turkish pavilion had replaced the Chinese pavilion. "They have made such an impact. The total number of Chinese companies this year is about fifty or sixty, but when the exhibition was at its most glorious, there were two to three hundred Chinese companies. "
Perhaps due to the adjustment of China's entry quarantine policy, Ding Yandong felt that there were many people when he returned to China, "just like Spring Festival travel." The two-way flow is expected to resume again. Hua Yifan said that during the epidemic, it was not just them who wanted to go out, customers also asked several times about the entry policy for foreigners. They have always wanted to come, but the time cost was too high before.
During their trip, what impressed Ding Yandong and Hua Yifan was that they both met enthusiastic customers. In Israel, Ding Yandong had a very lively chat with the customer. After the conversation, the customer called his father and grandfather over and arranged a family dinner in the evening. “They are a family business that was established in the 1960s. Extremely flattered. "And a customer Hua Yifan met also hit it off, and he took them to visit four more customers.
On December 23, Fei Jianming's five-day hotel quarantine ended and he was told that he could leave on his own. When it comes to companies going abroad to expand markets, he believes that now companies Just go abroad as normal. The government encourages companies to go abroad with confidence, and the government affairs team takes the lead.
Recently, through statistics on the rewards for companies going abroad, Fei Jianming got the number of people sent by companies from June 21st to October 31st. Regarding the number of people participating in overseas exhibitions and conducting business negotiations, there are more than 300 foreign trade companies with an import and export volume of more than 60 million yuan in 2021, and more than 1,000 people have left the country in more than four months.
Ding Yandong went abroad for the second time and got an order of about US$1.2 million, which is guaranteed for the first quarter of 2023. Ding Yandong has planned his future travel plans in advance. He will go to Australia in April 2023, Germany in June and July, and South America in September and October. He will go abroad at least 5 times.
(Editor: Hao Cheng Proofreading: Yan Jingning)
