If private enterprises develop well, Ningbo will be good; if Ningbo develops well, private enterprises will be better.
Now is the critical juncture of the start of the “15th Five-Year Plan”. What new ideas and new plans do Ningbo’s private entrepreneurs have, and what new actions will they take?
How can a sample of an import and export enterprise that has been rooted in Ningbo for 40 years continue to grow in a turbulent international trade environment?
The answer may not lie in “what to sell”, but in “how to chain” – or even in value creation and ecological empowerment beyond the “chain”.
Ningbo’s foreign trade has always been a business card of China’s open economy.
However, in recent years, the external environment has been complex and changeable, the traditional model has been under pressure, and it has been difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to go overseas.
How to do foreign trade?
Many people are asking.
Zhou Jule, Ningbo’s “foreign trade leader” and chairman of China Base Ningbo Group, gave his answer.
From “import and export” to “industrial chain supply chain service provider”
Zhongji is a “time-honored brand” in Ningbo’s foreign trade.
Established in 1985, it was restructured from a central enterprise to a private enterprise and has been focusing on its main business of import and export for more than 40 years.
Last year, the group’s revenue exceeded 150 billion yuan, and its import and export volume reached US$6.06 billion, continuing to lead Ningbo’s foreign trade development.
Behind the numbers lies a fundamental reshaping of corporate positioning and value.
“We have already surpassed the traditional role of traders.” Zhou Jule said.
In his view, the core value of trade lies in “links” – linking resources and demand, linking domestic and international, and linking industry and ecology.
China Base is positioned as an “industrial chain supply chain operator.”
This role is reflected in expanding sales for upstream manufacturers, ensuring stable supply of raw materials for downstream companies, and providing small, medium and micro enterprises with full-link services from customs clearance, tax refunds, financing to credit insurance and exhibition participation, systematically empowering industries to go overseas.
Resilience comes from the closed loop of “dual circulation”
The commodity business is a core component of China Base’s industrial chain and supply chain layout, and is also a key area for demonstrating its global resource allocation and risk control capabilities.
Energy and chemicals, metals and minerals, agricultural products… these materials related to the national economy and people’s livelihood have large price fluctuations, long chains, and high risks. China Base has built a stable operating system through the model of “global procurement, global sales”, “futures and cash linkage, industry and trade integration”.
Relying on a global procurement network coordinated by multiple hubs such as Ningbo and Hong Kong, China Base’s business covers more than 50 countries and regions, opening up the industrial chain from raw materials to finished products, achieving diversified sources of goods and stable supply.
Behind this, China Foundation Research Institute plays a key strategic leadership role.
Its professional research and investment team around the world focuses on in-depth research on macroeconomics, industrial trends and commodity supply and demand, providing forward-looking guidance for corporate strategic decisions and business development.
On this basis, enterprises manage market risks through the scientific use of financial derivatives and systematically ensure the resilience and security of the chain.
“Imports guarantee domestic production, and exports drive import demand, forming a virtuous cycle of one import and one export,” Zhou Jule said.
In 2025, China-based imports will increase by 10% year-on-year, and exports will remain stable under external pressure. Among them, exports to countries co-building the “Belt and Road” will increase by 13%, reflecting its diversified layout and risk resistance capabilities.
Small and medium-sized enterprises need a “giveaway” to go overseas
Ningbo has a large number of small, medium and micro manufacturing companies with good products, but it is difficult to go to sea – lack of funds, lack of channels, and lack of risk control capabilities.
The “Comprehensive Foreign Trade Service Platform” created by China Base Huitong has become their “escort messenger”.
The platform provides one-stop services such as customs clearance, tax refund, logistics, financing, credit insurance, and exhibition participation. It has raised more than 10 billion yuan in financing for enterprises and strives for more than 300 Canton Fair booths every year.
“China Foundation comes from foreign trade and understands foreign trade better,” Zhou Jule said.
Through free export credit insurance, the platform ensured the smooth delivery of orders worth US$560 million last year alone.
But this is not enough.
The traditional foreign trade model has long chains and thin profits.
China Base has made great efforts in cross-border e-commerce in recent years and launched the “China Base Cross-border Comprehensive Service Platform” to directly reach overseas consumers.
They chose to start with auto parts, which is Ningbo’s advantageous industry. Through the “cross-border e-commerce + industrial belt” model, they created the “China Base Auto Global” platform to achieve end-to-end efficient direct access from domestic factories to overseas users.
Today, this platform has become a national key supply chain platform and the only selected unit in Zhejiang Province.
“Next step, we will copy the model to more advantageous industrial clusters such as robot parts and electromechanical products, and create a new ecosystem for Ningbo’s high-quality manufacturing to go overseas,” Zhou Jule said.
Mixed reform is not “matching”
Since 2020, China Foundation has carried out mixed ownership reform with state-owned enterprises in many places, deeply integrating the flexible mechanisms and market capabilities of private enterprises with the resource advantages and policy support of state-owned enterprises, forming an innovative cooperation model of “complementary advantages and grafted capabilities”.
Its mixed-ownership reform companies focus on strategic fields such as agricultural products, non-ferrous metals, energy and chemicals, and are growing rapidly: revenue in 2024 will be 41.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 71%; revenue in 2025 will reach 64.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53%.
“This is not a simple capital cooperation, but a grafting of capabilities.” Zhou Jule said.
This model has formed a replicable and scalable cooperation mechanism, and we continue to work hard to create a “benchmark for mixed-ownership reform.”
Building hub capabilities to serve urban and national strategies
At the end of the interview, Zhou Jule raised his perspective to the strategic level of urban and industrial development.
The central government has deployed Ningbo to build the country’s first bulk commodity resource allocation hub.
In his opinion, this is the key step for Ningbo to move from a “big trade city” to a “strong trade city”.
“Ningbo has the world’s largest port, a solid manufacturing foundation, rich foreign trade talents and successful mixed-ownership reform experience.” Zhou Jule shared, “But to achieve the leap from a ‘large throughput port’ to a ‘functionally powerful port’, we also need to continuously improve our comprehensive service capabilities and resources.
He suggested accelerating the construction of bonded delivery warehouses, striving to obtain bulk commodity trading qualifications in Ningbo, building an integrated system of “hub port + overseas warehousing + distribution network”, and carrying out institutional innovation and pilot testing in aspects such as cross-border finance and trade facilitation.
“The development of enterprises cannot be separated from the systematic support of urban functions. Ningbo has good basic conditions and also has the responsibility to explore paths and provide samples for the country to enhance its voice in the global supply chain.” Zhou Jule said, just like the future of foreign trade, it is not about “flow”, but “value”.
In its forty years, China Base has written a history of the evolution of foreign trade from “realizing transactions” to “creating value”, from “participating in the supply chain” to “leading the industrial chain”.
Ningbo, the “leader” in foreign trade, is breaking away from the limitations of global trading and transforming into an ecological builder and chain owner that exports management, empowers industries, stabilizes supply chains, and serves national strategies.
This is a true portrayal of “Ningbo businessmen in the new era”: they not only adhere to the original intention of being pragmatic and enterprising, but also have systematic thinking and global structure, use ecological values to reconstruct the role of enterprises, and calmly open up new prospects in the changing situation.
Today, when uncertainty has become the norm, this ability deserves more attention than growth numbers.
