Recently, Foshan City held the 12th Party Congress. The report of the conference clearly pointed out that, based on Foshan's location, industrial and cultural advantages, overall promotion of economic and trade, science and technology, cultural exchanges and cooperation, Foshan will be built into the implementation of the "Belt and Road" strategy of the pilot zone, with the "Belt and Road" strategy to lead Foshan to the world.
As a thousand years old town, Zen City has a very close relationship with the ancient maritime Silk Road in history. Since the reform and opening up, Zen City has continued to open up. From "Shiwan Tile, A world" to "Foshan Pottery, entering the world", Chancheng enterprises once again use the spirit of daring to write Lingnan ancestors of foreign trade legend, expand global trade.
In the face of the new situation, Kong Haiwen, the governor of Chancheng District, pointed out at the two sessions of Chancheng District held not long ago that it is necessary to improve the level of open economic development, grasp the opportunities of the national "Belt and Road", encourage enterprises to "go out" development, and participate in the international division of labor and cooperation at a higher level and in a wider area.
Starting from today, we are launching a series of reports on "Open Zen City Embracing the world - Zen City implementing the 'Belt and Road' Strategy", focusing on how an open Zen city can participate in the division of labor and cooperation among countries and regions along the "Belt and Road".
A few orange cranes and trucks faded in the hot sun, but did not slow down the construction of their transport. In the coastal province of Tanzania, Foshan Boyida Import and Export Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Boyida") and a joint venture in Shanghai to build a ceramics factory has entered the final stage. In the factory, the ceramic press, mixer and other equipment required for the two production lines are ready, all purchased from developed countries, and then arrived at the east coast of Africa.
According to the official information of Boyida, the goal of the ceramic factory is to build the largest ceramic production line in East Africa, which is expected to bring tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue to the Tanzanian government every year, and provide 1,500 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs for the local people.
In Chancheng, more and more traditional foreign trade enterprises like Boyida are not satisfied with the ordinary commodity trade model, and are looking for new ways to embed in the emerging markets of the "Belt and Road", from the traditional product output model to cross-border investment.
According to Chancheng District Economic Science Bureau information, since 2007, the system registered Chancheng district enterprises to Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and other "Belt and Road" along the country investment projects 13, the total investment of 100 million US dollars, the number of projects and total investment accounted for 23% and 75% of the region.
Build a factory in Africa: Boyida starts a new adventure
From pure trade to overseas factory production, Boyida general manager Zhang Yalei called it "a new adventure", "the use of cheaper labor, land and other resources in Africa in local production, can save foreign trade logistics costs, save enterprise costs." More importantly, it reduces the impact of currency fluctuations on revenue."
Foshan Boda Import and Export Co., Ltd. belongs to Boda Group, headquartered in Chancheng Boda Group was established in 1999, the same year, the company's founder and president Wang Lixin came to Tanzania, became one of the first batch of entrepreneurs to explore the African market.
With ceramic products as a breakthrough into the African market, after nearly 20 years of expansion, Boda Group has set up sales companies in Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, established a localized sales team and distribution network, successfully built a number of own brands, set up independent channels and opened a number of direct retail stores and engineering showrooms.
At present, the company has more than 1,300 Chinese and foreign employees, and has become one of the largest traders of Chinese building materials exports to the African market, with annual sales of more than 200 million US dollars. Among them, GOODONE, the group's own brand, ranks first in Tanzania, South Africa and other markets, and is a well-known public building materials brand in the local.
As a pioneer of domestic building materials enterprises to explore the African market, in recent years, with the continuous rise of domestic production costs, and affected by the unstable political and economic environment in Africa, Boda Group gradually realized that the traditional commodity trade model can no longer meet the needs of enterprise development, and the company decided to change the "play" in Africa.
"Even after conquering the Tanzanian market and increasing trade with Africa year by year, it is becoming more and more difficult to make profits." There is a lot of risk in emerging markets such as Africa with political instability and volatile exchange rates." In Zhang Yalei's view, it is necessary to innovate the way of interacting with Africa, so that Buddhist enterprises can live better.
In 2016, Boyida accelerated the pace of transformation and cooperated with Shanghai Wangkang to establish the largest ceramic production line in East Africa in Tanzania, opening the development road of the company's industry and trade combination. The project started in March this year, the end of the production, the factory has entered the peak stage, is expected to bring tens of millions of dollars for the Tanzanian government each year, to provide 1,500 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect jobs.
According to her, exchange rates in Africa are particularly volatile, and companies can lose earnings if the exchange rate plummets by 10 percent when they settle foreign exchange. The integration of production and production and marketing in building factories in Africa allows enterprises to avoid frequent foreign exchange settlement, choose a stable exchange rate to settle foreign exchange, and control losses caused by large fluctuations in exchange rates.
Integration of industrial chain: upstream and downstream linkage to carry out transnational cooperation
In Chancheng, more and more traditional foreign trade enterprises like Boyida are not satisfied with the ordinary mode of commodity trade, and have begun to move from local manufacturing to cross-border investment. Unlike previous overseas investment focused on the production and sales of terminal products, another feature of the current round of "out of the sea tide" of Chancheng enterprises is to strengthen the integration of the industrial chain.
In 2015, Guangdong Jinyi Ceramic Co., Ltd. cooperated with Ceramica Valsecchia s.p.a., a well-known Italian ceramic enterprise. Reached a cooperation agreement, the company became the production base of Jinitao in Italy, for Jinitao classic antique antique series MUSE products, Jinitao also created the Chinese ceramic brand in Italy. Based on this, Jinyi Tao is planning to implement a new round of cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the next year, set up at least 4 overseas branches, invest in the construction of factories, and produce ceramic products with local cultural elements to meet the needs of local residents.
While Jin Yitao strengthens the downstream linkage of the industrial chain, Foshan Zun Xianxing Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. extends to the upstream link. In 2014, the company led the joint investment of Foshan Bangfeng Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. and Wuxi Baoshengyuan Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. to establish Kinlin Nickel Industry Indonesia (PT) Co., LTD., with a registered capital of $3.76 million. The company is located in North Konawi County, Sulawesi Province, southeast Indonesia, which is located in Indonesia's nickel mining area. According to the plan, the total investment of the company is about 33 million US dollars, the annual production of about 300,000 tons of nickel iron, is expected to accommodate 2,000 people - 3,000 people employed, and contribute 3 million US dollars to the local tax every year. At present, the first phase of the project has been completed and put into operation.
Then lift the "tide of the sea" : the countries along the "Belt and Road" have become important investment places
Over the past two years, the Belt and Road Initiative has been comprehensively promoted as a national strategy. As an important birthplace of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, in the current round of overseas investment boom in Chancheng, the countries along the "Belt and Road" have also become an important investment destination, and not limited to enterprises in a single industry, leading enterprises in various industries have this trend.
By investing in TC Renewable, Guangdong Nankong Power Co., Ltd. to expand Thailand's new energy market, promote the rapid development of electric vehicles and charging systems, photovoltaic power generation equipment, renewable energy power plant development, intelligent transmission systems and other fields, the project has been in normal operation for 4 years, 2015 sales of more than 500 million baht.
Foshan Sokal Technology Co., Ltd. invested $5.1 million to set up a factory in Indonesia to produce stainless steel products and sell them all over the world.
Foshan Jinying Real Estate Co., Ltd. chose Malaysia for real estate development, and developed a large international trade city "Rulai Building Materials Wholesale City" project integrating exhibition sales, headquarters base, office apartments, hotels and entertainment. The overall project planning covers an area of 303 acres, and the construction area is about 930,000 square meters. According to the plan, the project development cycle is 3 to 8 years, and the first phase (building materials wholesale city) is scheduled to open in 2018. After completion, 400 building materials companies will set up headquarters here, of which half are from Foshan.
According to the statistics of Chancheng District Economic Science Bureau, since 2007, there have been 13 investment projects of Chancheng District enterprises registered in the system to Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and other countries along the "Belt and Road", with a total investment of 100 million US dollars, and the number of projects and total investment account for 23% and 75% of the whole region respectively.
Cross-border investment is spreading like wildfire. In addition to existing projects, many companies have plans to build factories overseas. According to the relevant person in charge of Foshan lighting, the company is considering investing in Indonesia, Iran, Brazil and other markets and places with good manufacturing capacity; The person in charge of Rifeng Group also said that the company is considering going to Indonesia to build a joint venture factory.
