In recent years, more and more private Chinese enterprises have "moved forward" in the ocean of the global market with the help of a number of policies with the help of innovation and quality improvement and brand leadership.

Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that private enterprises have maintained the position of China's largest foreign trade business entity for six consecutive years. In 2024, the number of private enterprises with import and export performance exceeded 600,000 for the first time, reaching 609,000, continuing to inject vitality into the development of foreign trade.

This is a BYD Auto filmed at the 2025 Brussels Auto Show held in Brussels, Belgium (photo taken on January 10, 2025). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Meng Dingbo

Innovate and improve quality and practice hard "internal strength".

As an important fishing gear production base in the world, Shandong Weihai has been "advanced against the current" in the industrial chain in recent years, launching a tough battle against the key raw material carbon fiber, cultivating leading enterprises in the domestic carbon fiber new materials industry, and driving the formation of a large industry worth tens of billions of yuan.

Walking into the production workshop of Guangwei Outdoor Equipment Co., Ltd., five production lines are operating at full capacity. This workshop can produce five different fishing tackle products at the same time according to customer needs, with a daily output of up to 5,000 pieces. Tan Chunlin, deputy general manager of Guangwei Outdoor Equipment Co., Ltd., introduced, "In recent years, the company has developed fishing gear suitable for different scenarios based on market demand. There are more than 3,000 series and exported to 64 countries and regions."

my country's carbon fiber materials were completely reliant on imports, which restricted the company's progress and development. This also prompted the company to make up its mind to be self-reliant and build its own carbon fiber production line.

After unremitting research and development and debugging, in 2005, the CCF-1 grade carbon fiber developed by Guangwei passed the national acceptance. Afterwards, the company turned to the research and development and application verification of high-performance carbon fiber in the aviation field.

Data shows that in 2024, private enterprises became the largest import and export entities of China's high-tech products for the first time, with import and export of high-tech products increasing by 12.6%, accounting for 3 percentage points of the total import and export value of similar products in China to 48.5%. Behind the data is that private enterprises are constantly promoting development through innovation and injecting new strength into industry progress.

On February 24, 2025, members of the R&D team debugged humanoid robots at Wuhan Gelanruo Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Zixuan

Brand leadership and transformation "break the deadlock"

How do traditional foreign trade companies break through the competition in the "red ocean"? How to shift from "Office OEM" to "brand leadership"? The answer given by Heuer Group, located in Beilun District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province is: break down path dependence through active transformation and serve global users through continuous innovation.

"The cost-effectiveness of our Chinese products is very popular in the United States. Through the case of washing machines, our Heuer Group allows consumers in foreign European and American markets to enjoy the charm of Chinese products more." Cai Jingquan, executive vice president of Heuer Group, said.

Branding is the only way for enterprise transformation and development. Heuer Group has carefully designed and launched the self-operated shopping platform brand "Costway", to purchase and sell products around the world. Today, the company's business covers the entire chain of production, R&D, sales and after-sales service, and has maintained its position as a leading seller on online platforms such as Amazon, Walmart, and eBay for many years. The company's annual revenue in 2024 was 12.8 billion yuan, an increase of more than 10% year-on-year.

"To make it a well-known brand in China internationally, this is the direction of our efforts and our dream," said Wu Wei, chairman of Heuer Group.

Policy "escort" and move forward steadily

Behind the acceleration of "going out to sea", private enterprises cannot do without the "escort" of policies.

"From the current perspective, enterprises have a relatively large demand for 'going overseas'. Now our Ying Business Center has a 'going overseas' section." Yu Jianchun, deputy director of the Government Service Office of Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone, said.

In 2024, the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Zone Ying Business Center was established, and the Economic and Technological Development Zone has advanced the reform of the business environment to a new stage of version 5.0. Based on the original government service center's approval and other functions, Yingshang Center has added a number of value-added services such as international trade, financial services, and scientific and technological innovation, and has added a special window for enterprise service guarantee.

Yu Jianchun said that in the future, the Ying Business Center will work hard in the "going overseas" sector, and gradually establish a three-dimensional "going overseas" service system with all factors, all cycles and all chains, so that more high-quality enterprises can go to overseas markets through "going overseas" alliances and "going overseas" bases and develop stronger international competitiveness.

In the Jimi Technology Exhibition Area of ​​the International Consumer Electronics Exhibition in Berlin, Germany, visitors take photos of new projection products (photo taken on September 6, 2024). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Du Zheyu

From product overseas to brand overseas, from single combat to overall supply chain linkage... Chinese private enterprises are eager to make progress and embrace the international market with a more proactive attitude. In the future, with the accelerated release of policy dividends, Chinese private enterprises will integrate into the world economy with a more stable attitude and write more new stories of innovative development, mutual benefit and win-win results.

Coordinator: Wu Weiling

Director: Zhang Huan

Reporter: Li Shuai, Song Lifeng, Zhao Xiaoyu

Voice: Wang Shuailong

Produced by Xinhua News Agency Audio and Video Department