This photo taken on Jan. 31, 2023 shows a cargo ship docking at a container terminal of Ningbo Zhoushan Port in east China's Zhejiang Province. China's busiest port, the Port of Ningbo Zhoushan in the eastern province of Zhejiang, saw its cargo throughput exceed 1.25 billion tonnes in 2022, ranking first globally for a 14th consecutive year, according to the port.(Photo: Xinhua)

Domestic traders and producers in the major production and trading hub of Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, are heading abroad to attend industry exhibitions under local government support, aiming to secure orders for the new year.

With the anticipation of stronger demand abroad, the number of local companies participating in order-seeking trips is expected to increase to 5,000 this year, about 40 percent more than last year.

Exhibition booths for these companies will exceed 10,000, compared with just about 4,700 in 2023, the Global Times learned from the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce on Thursday.

Experts said that the active participation of Chinese companies in overseas exhibitions showcases businesses' confidence in expanding trade and securing new deals in the international market. This marks a promising start to the year.

"Domestic companies are eager to explore overseas markets to secure new orders ... the frequency and scale of companies going overseas this year will undoubtedly surpass the numbers in 2023," Fei Jianming, director of the foreign trade promotion division, Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce, told the Global Times on Thursday.

In addition to assisting in organizing business groups to attend international exhibitions, the local government, in collaboration with exhibiting companies, is facilitating exhibitions abroad for domestic companies to better connect with their foreign partners.

About 66 overseas exhibitions have been scheduled throughout this year, with the last one set to take place in Vietnam on December 23, Fei said. 

Despite the local government's relatively tight finances, we are committed to providing subsidies for any companies in Ningbo willing to go abroad, along with other support measures, Fei said, noting that this is part of the local policy to bolster local trade businesses.

With the support of the local government and efforts by companies, 3,272 companies participated in overseas travel groups to attend exhibitions in 2023, the first year since the downgraded response for COVID-19.

Beyond traditional markets like the US and Europe, fast-growing markets such as Russia and the Middle East are among the targeted destinations.

Zhang Yan, general manager of Ningbo-based Century International Exhibition Co, has been working on details of business trips since the beginning of this year.

His business is providing a full range of overseas exhibition services for domestic companies to introduce themselves to foreign business partners.

Zhang told the Global Times on Thursday that they will lead about 200 people at the end of February to participate in a hardware exhibition in Cologne, Germany held in early March.

In 2023, the company organized 150 trips with the participation of more than 2,000 companies. The company, which previously focused on organizing exhibitions in Europe and North America, aims to expand its reach to emerging markets such as the Middle East.

Ningbo is just an example of how local governments are supporting foreign trade. Zhejiang's provincial government aims to organize more than 1,000 business trips this year, with more than 10,000 companies, to explore overseas markets.

Other cities are also in the order-seeking league.

From January 9 to 12, the Municipal Council for the Promotion of International Trade of Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, organized five local companies for a business trip to participate in a commercial textile exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, according to media reports.

It was the city's first outbound exhibition group this year, and it helped companies to reach more than 200 business partners on site, with intended orders of more than 10 million yuan.

Going abroad to seek orders has become an important measure for stabilizing foreign trade. It proved very effective when local governments organized chartered flights for companies to meet clients abroad in the beginning of 2023, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The trip shows the government's determination to help companies going overseas and businesses' confidence in expanding their global markets, Li said.

Based on what has already achieved in 2023, China has taken an active approach in stabilizing trade for 2024.

In an ongoing effort to enhance trade, China is actively cultivating new drivers for growth and expanding intermediate goods trade, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said in an interview with the People's Daily on Thursday.