County Town Foreign Trade's Comeback Story: How Did They Sell Mountain Goods to the European Union?

While foreign trade enterprises in coastal cities are fighting desperately, a local agricultural products factory in Shucheng, Anhui Province has quietly sold mountain goods to European Union supermarkets through import and export agency services. Mr. Zhang never imagined that the packaging of the tea from his workshop could even be labeled with the EU organic certification. "I never thought I could directly engage in exports until I found a professional agent," he sighed.

Under the wave of industrial transfer in the Yangtze River Delta, a large number of characteristic industrial belts are emerging in Shucheng, a county town in western Anhui: Feather products account for 35% of the global market share, and the output of camellia oleifera oil has increased by 20% for five consecutive years. However, the pain point for local enterprises is still "having goods but not knowing how to sell". For example, Ms. Li's down quilt factory once had a whole container of goods detained at the customs for two weeks due to being unfamiliar with HS codes, resulting in a daily loss of tens of thousands of yuan.

• High professionalism of customs declaration documents: Involving 12 types of documents such as origin certificates and inspection and quarantine certificates
• Difficulty in controlling logistics costs: Small and medium - sized enterprises cannot get shipping space during the peak season of sea transportation
• High settlement risk: A certain enterprise once suffered from the default of overseas buyers due to TT payment

As a foreign trade service provider deeply rooted in the Anhui market, Zhongshitong has created an original "Three - Document Integration" service model: integrating the customs declaration form, logistics form, and settlement form into the same digital system. A certain children's vehicle factory has shortened the customs clearance time from 72 hours to 8 hours and reduced logistics costs by 18% through its intelligent customs declaration system.

More importantly, its "Global Trade Radar" function: by analyzing customs data from 52 countries, it can early - warn of trade barriers in advance. When the United States imposed tariffs on bamboo products, the system automatically suggested that customers re - export to Vietnam for reprocessing, thus saving a $3 million order.

• Borrow a Boat to Go to Sea: Jointly participate in the Cologne Fair in Germany with the agency company, and the booth fee is reduced by 60% after sharing
• Disruptive Competition: Focus on emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia to avoid red - sea areas
• Light - Asset Operation: Adopt the export agency model and establish an overseas sales network at zero cost

A certain camellia oleifera oil enterprise in Shucheng has transformed from domestic sales to a benchmark with an annual export volume of 20 million US dollars in three years. Its boss concluded: "We just need to make our products perfect, and leave professional matters to professionals." When new business forms such as cross - border e - commerce and overseas warehouses penetrate into county towns, perhaps the next foreign trade dark horse is hidden in the resource library of a certain agency service provider in your address book.

Have your enterprise also encountered these foreign trade problems? Welcome to share your experiences in the comment area. We will select three readers to provide free import and export compliance diagnosis.