Surge in Dehua's porcelain exports

Porcelain makers in Dehua, a county in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian province, are busily shipping porcelain crafts and figurines in the shape of pumpkins, cartoon characters and Christmas trees overseas for the upcoming Halloween and Christmas holidays, as international clients place advance orders for these annual events.

Summer is the peak season for shipping, with porcelain products usually delivered to Xiamen, Fujian, first for Customs clearance before being shipped to overseas purchasers, local companies said.

Dehua is China's largest base for the production and export of porcelain products. The products made locally have been exported to more than 190 countries and regions, according to the porcelain development center of Dehua.

In the first seven months of this year, the export value of porcelain from Dehua totaled 2.14 billion yuan ($298 million), up 5.06 percent year-on-year, the center said.

Quanzhou Shunmei Group Co, a major porcelain maker in Dehua, said that it has exported products to more than 100 countries, with exports accounting for 60 to 70 percent of its total business volume. Customers include Walmart, Universal Pictures and Starbucks.

The tariff disputes between China and the United States have had a certain impact on its export business to the US, while demand from Europe, especially the United Kingdom and Germany, remains robust, the company said.

"We have been cooperating with some major global corporations for a long time, and we make products for them on an order-based system. We have more than 100 designers at the company," said Zheng Pengfei, general manager of Shunmei Group.

"The trade disputes are still having some impact on us. While stabilizing exports, we will continue to expand the domestic market," Zheng said.

Looking back at history, Quanzhou was the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. In the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368), porcelain gradually became the main goods of export.

Now in Dehua, more than 100,000 people are engaged in work related to porcelain and the number accounts for one-third of the county's total population. So far, the county has set up 54 porcelain promotion and exhibition centers in major cities of markets participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to the center.

"Dehua has over 4,500 porcelain enterprises, and they have been involved in the production of three major types of products, which are artistic porcelain for export, daily-use porcelain like tableware and tea utensils, as well as porcelain carving works by masters," said Kou Wanqiong, deputy director of the center.

Meanwhile, the county has continued to innovate the sector with advanced technologies. It has launched a research institute that focuses on the research of new materials for making porcelain and has also built the world's first 5G smart factory for producing daily-use porcelain.