Not long ago, a batch of quarantined pet cats took an international cargo flight to South Korea at the Shenyang Airport Port, marking the smooth customs clearance of the country’s first cross-border e-commerce export of pet dogs and cats.
Liaoning is the country’s largest pet dog and cat breeding and trading export base, with an annual output of about 5 million.
The development of cross-border e-commerce business has opened up a new scenario for Liaoning’s “cute pet” economy.
In the first quarter of this year, Liaoning’s foreign trade import and export rebounded significantly.
In addition to continuing to consolidate the position of advantageous items such as mechanical and electrical products and equipment, cross-border e-commerce imports and exports, as a new form of foreign trade, increased by 46.6% year-on-year, making a significant contribution to the improvement of the province’s foreign trade.
With the accelerated popularization of the Internet and the continuous optimization of cross-border payment and logistics services, cross-border e-commerce has become a new engine driving trade growth, receiving more and more attention, and becoming a new track for trade competition in various regions.
In recent years, the development of cross-border e-commerce in Liaoning has maintained a good momentum. In 2025, the province’s cross-border e-commerce import and export volume will increase by 16.3% year-on-year, which is 18.3 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the province’s total import and export of goods trade.
The province has been approved for 7 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones including Dalian and Shenyang, with the number ranking among the top in the country.
However, the relevant person in charge of the Provincial Department of Commerce said, “Although our province has certain basic conditions for the development of cross-border e-commerce and has achieved initial results, the gap is still large compared with advanced regions, and the support for stable growth of foreign trade is insufficient.” Before new opportunities, it is particularly important to make up for shortcomings and expand scale.
Summer is approaching, and thousands of swimwear factories in Xingcheng City have entered the peak production season.
Because of the swimwear industry, Xingcheng’s cross-border e-commerce started early.
As early as 2014, the first cross-border e-commerce platform in Northeast China was born in Xingcheng. Now, more than 30 overseas warehouses have been built and put into use.
Wang Na, chairman of Liaoning Yinghua Textile and Apparel Group Co., Ltd., said: “The Provincial Party Committee hopes that we will expand internationally, leap to high-end, and personally promote and connect resources, which enhances our confidence and determination to develop overseas. Because we have connected with many high-quality entities, the company’s overseas development is on the fast track, with output value increasing by 53% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year.”
“Acceleration” comes from tight timing and high-level promotion.
In December last year, Liaoning held a cross-border e-commerce training conference, clarifying the need to vigorously develop new cross-border e-commerce formats and new models, and accelerate the cultivation of new growth points for foreign trade. On the first working day after the Spring Festival this year, the provincial government held a video conference to promote the accelerated development of cross-border e-commerce. More than a thousand key cross-border e-commerce companies
Commercial enterprises participated in the meeting; in February this year, the “Liaoning Province Action Plan to Promote the Accelerated Development of Cross-border E-commerce (2026-2028)” was released; in March, 11 provincial (central) departments including the Provincial Department of Commerce and the Provincial Department of Finance issued 9 high-quality and highly operable policies and measures.
Innovation in business formats has accelerated the emergence of landmark results: the first “9610+TIR” intermodal transport business in Northeast China has been launched, providing more logistics options for enterprises to expand exports; Shenyang promotes cooperation with JD.com to innovate the 1210 export business model, and the international dry port bonded logistics center (Type B) was successfully approved; Dalian successfully connected to the Xiyin logistics system, and export goods achieved 2-hour customs clearance; Anshan promoted the export of Xiuyu to Japan, South Korea, and Russia through the 9610 model…
Cross-border e-commerce has the characteristics of “small order and quick response”, that is, through the production of small and high batches, enterprises can obtain immediate market feedback, improve the flexibility of the supply chain, and thereby improve the ability to respond quickly to external demand.
However, Liaoning also faces some problems. A survey shows that traditional industries such as equipment manufacturing and metallurgy and petrochemicals in our province account for more than 90% of the province’s total foreign trade exports, and are not suitable for the development of cross-border e-commerce. The foundation of the consumer goods industry is weak, and consumer goods exports only account for 5% of the province’s foreign trade. Industries suitable for cross-border e-commerce, such as light industry, textiles, and daily consumer goods, are small in scale and have few brands, and have not yet formed economies of scale.
In addition, Liaoning’s cross-border e-commerce business entities still have practical problems of being relatively small in number and weak in comprehensive strength.
As of the end of last year, there were more than 4,600 cross-border e-commerce business entities in our province, but only more than 2,000 carried out substantive import and export business; there was an obvious lack of leading enterprises, and the vast majority were self-operated small, medium and micro enterprises. They mostly participated in cross-border transactions through OEM and OEM methods. They lacked core technology, independent brands and brand premium capabilities, and had weak ability to resist market risks and international bargaining power.
The key to solving the problem lies in the cultivation of the cross-border e-commerce “ecosystem”.
Focusing on the development path of cross-border e-commerce, the Provincial Department of Commerce, the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, and the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly compiled the “1252” development map, striving to create 10 cross-border e-commerce industrial belts, 20 key industrial parks, and cultivate 50 key enterprises and 20 independent brands.
The Provincial Department of Education and the Provincial Department of Commerce carry out cross-border e-commerce talent training, requiring universities to place cross-border e-commerce talent training in an important position in serving the province’s opening up and industrial revitalization, cultivating talents for the industry and empowering openness.
In view of the fact that many cross-border e-commerce companies generally face the dilemma of “going it alone” when going overseas, Liaoning clearly needs to strengthen professional services, talent supply, public platform construction, etc., and empower the development of cross-border e-commerce by improving the factor guarantee system and comprehensive service ecology.
Optimize and upgrade the provincial cross-border e-commerce comprehensive service platform, and fully promote the “one-stop service” for high-frequency service matters such as customs clearance, tax refund, finance, logistics, and credit insurance.
At the same time, we will continue to strengthen business entities through “introduction” and “training”.
