Exporters getting help to combat difficulties

Government departments and policy banks will provide guidance and financial support to companies operating in cross-border economic cooperation zones and resolve urgent issues such as ensuring capital turnover and broadening financing channels to ensure smooth operations of the companies' industrial and supply chains to put their export growth on a firmer footing, he added.

Under a policy measure jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Sinosure earlier this year, all service branches of Sinosure will provide full insurance coverage service, strengthen the protection of risks such as the cancellation of orders to enterprises affected by the pandemic and open up a green channel for claims settlement for companies at home, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

The Beijing-based Sinosure is a State-funded policy-oriented insurance company providing services including medium and long-term export credit insurance, overseas investment insurance, short-term export credit insurance, domestic trade credit insurance, bonds and guarantees as well as reinsurance related to export credit insurance.

As China has recently taken a number of innovative measures such as turning this year's 127th session of the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) into an online event and releasing a master plan for the Hainan Free Trade Port, the central authorities will raise credit support in key areas and promote the growth of industrial parks in its cross-border economic cooperation zones, said Zong Changqing, director-general of the department of foreign investment administration under the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry will encourage businesses in these areas to undertake industrial transfers and diversify categories of traded goods, especially with markets participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, Zong said.

Wang Xiaosong, a professor of economics at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said even though the quality of many products manufactured by Chinese companies is excellent and the goods fully meet requirements of overseas clients, they lack their own established brands and they can only sell overseas with the help of foreign brands.

It is time for many of them to blaze a new trail by cutting some original equipment manufacturing activities and building up their own brands, Wang said, adding that when these firms are equipped with comprehensive capabilities in planning, R&D, production, marketing and personalized services, they will bring more value to the "Made in China" label.