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Zhoushan: a Major City for Foreign Trade

发布时间: 2022-10-18

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Zhejiang’s GPD is based in foreign trade. In the first eight months of 2022, Zhejiang’s import and export volume and import growth rate ranked first among the major foreign trade provinces and cities along the eastern coast. Its export growth rate ranked second. But which city ranks first in foreign trade in Zhejiang?

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In August of this year, the export scale of Zhoushan reached a new record in a single month. The import scale exceeded 20 billion RMB for three consecutive months. Both the volume and the growth rate of import and export ranked first in Zhejiang. From January to August, the import and export of Zhoushan City was 217.8 bn RMB, which was an increase of 42.3%. The export value was 74.78 bn RMB which was an increase of 44.1%, and the import value was 143.02 bn RMB, which was a 41.3% increase. The three increase rates were 23.5, 22.5, and 29.6 percent higher than those of Zhejiang.

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Some people may think that the high growth rate of Zhoushan is not surprising because of its small scale. Indeed, as a city with designated districts and with only 1440 square km of land—the smallest in Zhejiang—Zhoushan only accounts for 1.36% of the land area of Zhejiang. Its population only accounts for 1.77% of Zhejiang. Zhoushan is indeed a small city from this perspective.

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How does a small city accomplish such a meteoric rise? It’s all thanks to the layout of the petroleum and gas industry chain in the Zhoushan area of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone. As such, “Petroleum” is a keyword in Zhoushan’s foreign trade. The demand for crude oil imports increased due to the rise of international crude oil prices and the continuous operation of large projects. One such project is the refining and chemical integration project of Zhoushan International Green Petrochemical Base with an annual output of 40 million tons. Data shows that in July, the total import of crude oil in Zhoushan was 3.325 million tons, with an increase of 54.1%. The average import price was 5819.5 RMB per ton, with an increase of 73.1%, which is a new high since 2013.

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From the perspective of export, it also benefited from the continuous expansion of the supply market of fuel oil for Zhoushan bonded ships. From January to August, Zhoushan exported refined oil products worth 54.83 bn RMB, with an increase of 72.3%, accounting for 73.3% of the total export value of Zhoushan in the same period.

At this stage, Zhoushan’s foreign trade growth is based on the import and export of bulk commodities, and the proportion of imports is significantly higher than exports. It is also the result of the positioning of the Zhoushan Area in the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone. Zhoushan, with its unique location advantage in China and relatively complete basic systems such as oil storage facilities, oil pipelines, and collection and distribution systems, has become the most advantageous oil storage and transportation base in China. It has long been a prosperous market of oil import and export.

According to the provincial plan for the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone, by 2035, we will strive to achieve the three goals of “100 million tons of oil reserves, 100 million tons of refining capacity, and 100 million tons of trading capacity.” With the continuous improvement of refining capacity and trading capacity, the energy level and structure of Zhoushan’s foreign trade will be constantly improved in the future. There is lots of optimism about the future of this small city. (By Shen Zenan, translated by Wei Han, edited by Daniel Haws) 

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