Apparel / Textiles & Accessories

On the 10th day of the New Year, the Chinese Oriental Silk Market ushered in its opening with the sound of firecrackers. As a major importer and exporter of international trade, Jiangnan, the general manager of Jiangsu Romance Roland Outdoor New Materials Co., Ltd., once again "dares" to go to the United States to "grab orders", seize orders with full enthusiasm, expand sales routes, and busy production, to run well in the "first stick" of the Spring Festival.

Maybe it's a coincidence. In the past two days, the salesmen stationed in South America by another foreign trade enterprise in Shengze, Suzhou Yabo Textile Co., Ltd., have also successively "gone to sea", which once again inspired the vitality of enterprise officers to start their own businesses and dare to take risks.

In recent years, Shengze international trading enterprises, including Romance Outdoor and Yabo Textile, have made great efforts to fight against the current with the courage to work and break through the epidemic. These foreign trade enterprises are not only the embodiment of the vitality of Shengze's private economy, but also the important support to stabilize the "rosy" trend of Shengze's foreign trade economy.

On January 31, according to the latest news from China Eastern Silk Market Management Office, from January to December 2022, Shengze's international trade import and export totaled 2.71 billion US dollars, up 18.8% year on year, exports 2.4 billion US dollars, up 20.04% year on year, imports 310 million US dollars, up 10.04% year on year. At the moment when the region's foreign trade is running smoothly, Shengze's foreign trade growth is continuing to grow against the trend.

So how did Shengze, which is striving to build a "world-class high-end silk textile industry innovation cluster", resolve the crisis under the pressure of the epidemic?

"The strong and adverse foreign trade situation is due to our focus on the two key points of 'integration' and 'high quality', focusing on the new development concept, and working with enterprises to firmly adhere to the textile industry, so that we can brave the wind and the waves and dare to move forward." In an interview with reporters, the relevant heads of the China Oriental Silk Market Management Office and the Trade Promotion Bureau said that in recent years, Shengze Town has seized the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the regional integration The opportunity of urban-rural integration construction is to focus on the "three organic renewal" of market, industry and urban and rural areas, strengthen the construction of industrial and trade integration and domestic and foreign trade integration, comprehensively promote the space reconstruction, resource restructuring and quality remodeling, and accelerate the high-quality development of Shengze textile industry.

Speaking of the substantial growth of foreign trade, the person in charge believed that "it is inevitable that it is accidental." He said that at the "first meeting of the New Year" held in Wujiang on January 29, the whole region took a new journey in the spirit of "four dares". Shengze may have been making achievements with "dares", and has achieved extremely difficult results through the unremitting efforts of all international trade enterprises. At present, there are more than 900 enterprises with import and export achievements in the town, including a large number of high-quality foreign trade forces such as Liangjin (Yabo), Jingyi, Rongji, and Soyang.

The reporter found in the interview that during the three years of "tight" epidemic situation, Shengze's foreign trade situation has maintained strong tenacity. Through the word "dare", it has continuously achieved effective growth in the depressed market environment, especially in last year's list. The main reasons are as follows:

——Perfect industrial chain support. At present, Shengze Town has formed a complete textile industry chain with silk as the source, "from a drop of oil to a piece of cloth" and "from a piece of silk to a brand". Relying on industrial advantages, fashion empowerment, green development and other superimposed factors, it allows foreign trade enterprises to dare to work and break through, bite down the hard bone and open up a new situation. Behind this, Shengze entrepreneurs have the courage to "go out" and add luster to the beautiful transcript.

——High quality business environment "soil". A good business environment is an important basis for promoting the high-quality development of the industry. Especially during the epidemic, in addition to supporting enterprises to speed up the resumption of work and production at the government level, introducing a number of anti-epidemic policies to support foreign trade enterprises, sorting out the "white list" of more than 90 large foreign trade export enterprises, and ensuring the smooth flow of foreign trade logistics through the "Suzhoutong", the more important thing is that Shengze enterprises have the courage to be "lone warriors", dare to develop and move forward. Taking Xiangbu Textile as an example, it is due to the recognition of Shengze's industry, market and high-quality business environment. During the three years of epidemic, the enterprise moved its product design and development and order operation development center from Beijing and Xiong'an to Shengze.

——The superimposed effect of policies. In recent years, Shengze Town has focused on playing a leading role in the international trade cluster of China Eastern Silk Market, integrating the industrial chain resources of China Eastern Silk Market, increasing policy support, strengthening investment attraction of foreign trade enterprises, improving foreign trade service awareness, focusing on the markets of the United States and Europe, exploring the emerging market of the "the Belt and Road", and fostering cross-border e-commerce through policy support, enterprise incentives, training and incubation Measures such as "going to the sea" exhibition, "grabbing orders" and expanding the "circle of friends" of foreign trade have made remarkable achievements in the development of foreign trade.

——Active business entities. Energetic foreign trade enterprises are the driving force for the rise of foreign trade against the trend. In the face of complex external environment such as "tight shipping" and "imbalance between supply and demand", foreign trade enterprises overcame many difficulties with courage and boldness and strove against the current. Take Romance and Roland Outdoor as an example. In 2022, with the "three magic weapons" of "strong drive", "strong research and development" and "strong communication", the company went out of the country twice a year to visit customers in six countries and regions, and achieved a year-on-year increase of 30% in annual net sales. Similarly, on the basis of the remarkable foreign trade performance achieved last year, Yabo Textile has planned to update itself, optimize the stock resources, and create a new pattern of integrated development of industry and trade.

We can see that behind this remarkable achievement is the determination and courage of the majority of Shengze entrepreneurs. From the outbreak of the epidemic three years ago, enterprise entities have actively participated in the prevention and control of the epidemic, to "hold" production, and then to take the initiative to "go to sea" to grab orders after the full resumption of work... A series of operations that change with the times have made today's "report card".

"The development of foreign trade is an indispensable force in the upgrading of Shengze's industry. It is necessary to boost the confidence of enterprises and stabilize the growth expectations of foreign trade." The person in charge said that Shengze Town will further strengthen the support for foreign trade-oriented enterprises in the next step; Vigorously promote the development of B2B cross-border e-commerce industry and cultivate more high-quality foreign trade enterprise groups; Increase the overseas layout of the industry, encourage the top enterprises to expand the scope of participation in the exhibition, establish overseas warehouses, increase online sales and online exhibition to expand the market, and realize the competition of international trade enterprises in the post-epidemic era at a higher level.

New era, new opportunities. Now, Shengze is ushering in a new pattern of high-quality development in the wave of industrial iteration. At the same time, driven by the organic renewal and reconstruction of the city and the superposition of "industry+high-speed rail", the majority of entrepreneurs are marching towards the spring with the spirit of "four dares".