On April 23, the second phase of the 139th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) opened grandly. Buyers from all over the world gathered here with high expectations across mountains and seas.
After 70 years of development, the Canton Fair has become an important window for Chinese manufacturing, including “Cantonese goods”, to explore new opportunities.
At a time when the world economy is constantly changing, it can be clearly seen from this Canton Fair that emerging markets have become a new opportunity for “Cantonese goods” to go overseas, and cross-border payment, as a key infrastructure of the foreign trade chain, is moving from “backend guarantee” to “front-end value”, becoming a “digital intelligence” force for “Cantonese goods” to go overseas.
Safe and efficient payment collection has become the key for “Cantonese goods” to develop emerging markets.
Statistics from the General Administration of Customs show that emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America have become the core engine of foreign trade export growth.
Data from the cross-border payment platform
However, the construction of financial infrastructure in emerging markets lags behind, the cross-border payment system is imperfect, and foreign exchange is scarce, making it difficult for buyers to obtain US dollar foreign exchange. As a result, foreign trade companies face many difficulties such as low settlement efficiency, slow return of funds, and easy freezing of cards.
Some small and medium-sized enterprises choose informal payment channels in order to be “fast”, but they face asset losses and legal risks.
How to balance efficiency and security in cross-border payment collection has become a major challenge for enterprises to explore emerging markets.
At the 139th Canton Fair, Mr. Li, the person in charge of a small and micro foreign trade company in Shenzhen engaged in the export of industrial machinery, said that in the past, exports were mainly to Europe and the United States. Last year, they began to expand into the African market. Although there has been an “explosive” growth in orders due to local infrastructure dividends, payment collection is slow and cumbersome due to issues such as foreign exchange controls, and accounts often cannot be received for weeks.
Later, XTransfer opened local collection accounts in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and other places. Buyers can pay directly in local currencies, and the payment can be received in a few minutes. They can also directly settle and withdraw cash in RMB, greatly improving the efficiency of capital turnover.
Fang Hanshu, general manager of Dongguan Aizhen Clothing Co., Ltd., said that as Aizhen expands customer channels in Southeast Asia, order fragmentation has brought about cross-border collection problems.
Foreign trade e-commerce has made export trade more “fragmented”. Small orders, high frequency, and quick purchases have become mainstream. Customers in different countries pay in different currencies. Issues such as exchange rate fluctuations, timeliness of payment, and cumbersome reconciliations consume a lot of energy.
After choosing a cross-border payment platform like PingPong, one account can manage the funds of multiple platforms. Overseas customers pay in local currencies, and companies settle and withdraw cash in RMB. The capital turnover efficiency is significantly improved, and the process is simplified, efficiency is improved, and risks are avoided.
The Canton Fair is not only a platform for ‘selling goods’, but also a bridge for global trade participants to connect with each other.
Cross-border payment platforms play an increasingly important role in upstream and downstream interconnection of global trade.
Wang Xiaohui, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Religion of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said that “Guanghuoxingtianxia” needs to deeply explore the domestic market and explore international markets. Cross-border payments, as part of the producer service industry, are providing “digital intelligence” to “Guanghuoxingtianxia”.
During the 139th Canton Fair, Ant International launched Global Account Services, relying on WorldFirst to provide enterprises with “one-stop” cross-border financial solutions covering more than 200 countries and regions, covering multi-currency collection, fund collection, AI foreign exchange forecasting, treasury management and compliance support, helping enterprises to efficiently and safely expand the international market in a turbulent environment.
After Douhe Technology (Douhe) in Shunde, Guangdong Province accessed Ant International Wanlihui’s “Global Account” service, it solved the pain points of cumbersome payment collection on multiple platforms, high handling fees, and troublesome exchange rate conversions. It paid related fees in compliance with regulations and had clear accounts to help it expand into emerging markets.
Le Jinliang, a partner of Douhe Technology, is full of confidence in the future of “Cantonese goods” going overseas. At this Canton Fair, Douhe Technology displayed nearly 10 new products and felt the strong pulse of the rebound in foreign trade.
