Aerial view of Shanghai Photo: VCG

Shanghai's role as a leading international trade hub has strengthened over the past decade, driven by the city's consistency in expanding internal demand and boosting quality consumption, Gu Jun, chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, said on Sunday.

The city's growing consumption capacity and the government's policy support have been the prime driving forces of Shanghai's rising role as a major trade center.

Speaking at the press conference, Gu said that over the past decade, Shanghai's retail sales doubled to lead other cities in the country.

Shanghai is now the largest distribution center for imported consumer goods in China, with the proportion of imports of consumer goods at Shanghai ports exceeding 40 percent of the nation's total, Gu said.

The port's imports of clothing account for about 70 percent of China's total imports, followed by 41 percent for cosmetics and 37 percent for vehicles in the country.

Shanghai is also the first choice for international brands to enter the Chinese market. The concentration of world-renowned high-end brands exceeds 90 percent.

The huge market consumption capacity has drawn numerous international businesses, with many taking Shanghai as their first entry to the Chinese market.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), more than 800 such stores were launched each year, accounting for about half of the country's total. 

Effective policies have created conditions for the city's development. In the past 10 years, Shanghai has insisted on giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, Gu said.

As Shanghai has insisted on promoting the high-quality development of trade, the city has become the world's leading trade port city.

Even during the difficult times caused by the epidemic and other international tensions, the trade value of Shanghai ports reached 10.1 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in 2021. For the first time, the city's total goods trade exceeded 4 trillion yuan, leading other provinces and cities in the country.

The regional headquarters of multinational companies is an important part of the construction of an international trade center. Since Shanghai took the lead in introducing the policy of encouraging multinational companies to set up regional headquarters in the city in 2002, Shanghai has maintained its status as the metropolis with the most regional headquarters of multinational companies in the Chinese mainland.

As of late September, 877 regional headquarters of multinational companies had been established in Shanghai.   

Nearly 80 percent are from developed countries and regions such as the US, Europe and Japan, involving advanced manufacturing sectors such as biomedicine and automobile manufacturing. 

By the end of 2021, the actual use of foreign capital in Shanghai exceeded $300 billion, an increase of $168 billion compared with 2012.

Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Sunday that Shanghai has competitive advantages for being a leading trade hub in the world, which will be further consolidated in the coming months.

The city is also leading the trend in international currency settlement and investment, which in return, provides new momentum for its rising role as an international trade hub, the expert said.

Global Times