Juxian county in Rizhao, Shandong province has been ramping up efforts to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and investment and expand opening-up, local media reported.

In the first half of the year, the county’s foreign trade volume reached 7.44 billion yuan ($1.08 billion), up 45.2 percent year-on-year, 38.8 percentage points higher than the entire city, and 28.2 percentage points higher than the entire province. The foreign capital that was actually received amounted to $43.81 million, which is 73 percent of the annual target set by the county.

The business volume of cross-border e-commerce doubled in Juxian, and the cross-border e-commerce export volume in the first half of the year reached 72.84 million yuan.

"This year, we have exported more than 1,300 metric tons of frozen vegetable products and earned $6.18 million in foreign exchange, up 12 percent compared with the same period last year," said Han Baoxing, deputy general manager of a local food company.

Han pointed out that there were some uncertainties due to domestic outbreaks of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the foreign trade industry has been affected to a certain extent, but from the company's foreign trade data in the first half of the year, the situation is better than expected.

Han's company is a comprehensive export food enterprise integrating production, vegetable processing and export trade. It is one of the leading enterprises of agricultural industrialization in Shandong and its products are exported to more than 20 countries and regions such as the European Union, Japan, and the United States.

According to Han, the local government's support and preferential policies amid the pandemic have helped the company secure their orders in markets.