Commodity trade gets fillip

Liberalization, systemic reforms seen transforming lives of people

Editor's Note: In this fourth part of the special series on the new free trade zones being set up across China, we look at the China (Zhejiang) Pilot FTZ at Zhoushan, which started operations on April 1. One of the seven zones built this year, it promises to enhance liberalization and introduce systemic reforms. That could help simplify procedures, give a global dimension to the energy-related bulk commodity trade (the mainstay of the local economy), save on time, storage and transport costs of companies, and speed up cross-border online shopping, giving consumers faster access to cheaper foreign products. The Zhejiang FTZ has the potential to transform lives. The stories below explain how.

The newly launched free trade zone, also known as FTZ, in East China's Zhejiang province is expected to further liberalize trade in bulk commodities.