Workers operate at the production line of electric water heaters at a company in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Sept. 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Guobao)

Facing a complex and volatile international situation, foreign trade enterprises in South China's Guangdong Province, one of the country's manufacturing hubs, have actively stepped up measures including exploring new overseas and domestic markets to snap up more orders.

Many localities across the country, including Guangdong, have recently adopted optimized pandemic prevention and control measures, including orderly re-opening of production and business sites, which has laid the foundation for a recovery back to normal operations.

A manager of a Shenzhen-based robotic vacuum producer told the Global Times that the company has increased efforts to explore new markets in Southeast Asia as well as Japan and South Korea, as the consumption in Europe, which was the company's major export destination since 2017, continued to weaken.

The manager said that orders from the new markets largely made up for the loss in the European market. Meanwhile, domestic sales also increased.

"We welcome the latest flexible epidemic prevention policies, which will make our production and operation smoother. In fact, the Shenzhen municipal government has made a lot of efforts since 2020 to aid troubled enterprises. Epidemic prevention and control measures are now optimized which benefits enterprises and businesses," said the manager.

While some enterprises are exploring more overseas markets, some are focusing more on developing the domestic market.

Fu Wei, chief human resources officer of Ngai Kwong International, a Shenzhen-based original equipment manufacturer of smart home appliances, told the Global Times on Sunday that the company began to shift from foreign markets to the home market in the second half of 2021 as overseas demand dropped due to the impact of the pandemic, including disrupted logistics and supply chains.

"Currently, the major problem that we are facing is shortage of labor. Many migrant workers can't come to the factories," said Fu.

Fu said that the government's readjustment of its anti-virus policy benefits exploring new markets.

But production costs are increasing, including raw materials, transportation and labor, Li Yansong, a manager of Guangzhou Magi-Wap Culture Articles Co, told the Global Times.

"Our overall orders this year are expected to be the same as in 2021. Major difficulties come from the fallout of the pandemic and global geopolitical uncertainties. The biggest challenge is that it is almost impossible to participate in exhibitions abroad or visit overseas customers. Therefore, our new products cannot be presented to customers," said Li.

The Guangdong provincial government is ramping up steps to stabilize foreign trade. Guangdong has introduced policies and measures to support the development of new forms of foreign trade, such as cross-border e-commerce.

In the first 10 months of this year, Guangdong saw an increase of 1.9 percent year-on-year rise in total foreign trade volume. Exports rose by 6.8 percent, according to Guangdong customs.

Since November, Guangdong's local epidemic situation has been severe, and many economic activities have slowed down. It is estimated that from the end of 2022 to the beginning of 2023, Guangdong's foreign trade activity is likely to be reactivated, said industry insiders.

China has been vigorously assisting exporters to retain their foreign trade orders. For example, China's main foreign trade promotion agency has planned 35 overseas trade exhibition projects to boost trade.

According to the plan released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, trade exhibitions will be held from December to February 2023 in 14 countries: Iran, Germany, the US, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Australia, France, the UAE, Russia, Japan, India, Bangladesh and Spain.

Some analysts said that they are confident about the steady development of China's foreign trade in the coming months.