(Yicai) Nov. 17 -- Chinese exporters are striving to meet their annual performance goals through new strategies such as growing overseas business through cross-border e-commerce in the face of declining Christmas trade orders due to weak global demand and the shift of some industries to low-cost labor areas.

Orders have dropped by at least one-third in the months leading up to Christmas from a year earlier, mainly because demand is shrinking and foreign businesses have huge inventories left over form the pandemic, according to Xu Jun, an exporter from Yiwu, the Chinese city that is the global capital of small commodities.

Orders from Europe and the United States have plunged despite those from Russia and countries in China's Belt and Road Initiative increasing, noted Zhu Zhijuan, a Christmas tree exporter from Yiwu. So business is down a little on last year and is worse than before the pandemic, she added.

“Because the market isn’t good, buyers are pressing down on prices,” Zhu said. Although sea freight fees and raw material costs have dropped from a year ago, her company still cannot grow profit, she pointed out.

Sock-related export business can also under pressure as many industries have moved to Pakistan and Vietnam in recent years, said Zhu Yue, head of socks and embroidery machines exporter Zhongqi Import and Export. In addition, the textile market faces oversupply, Zhu noted.

Despite that, the company’s orders jumped 40 percent this year, although this was much lower than its annual target which was for a 100 percent increase, Zhu added, noting that the rapid growth is partly because Zhongqi is still a small and growing business.

Meanwhile, Zhongqi has made efforts to expand its business on cross-border e-commerce platforms since it was set up, enabling the firm to benefit from its fast development, Zhu said. The firm's expansion in BRI markets has garnered results by attracting customers via such platforms, but making these results significant will take time, Zhu added.

Foshan Xincode Technology's sales are likely to rise 30 percent this year, below its 50 percent target, said General Manager Cheng Zhen. But considering the overall market environment, the result is still satisfactory, she noted.

With increasingly fierce competition in at home, Xincode began to shift its focus to the wider overseas markets and try more effective ways to explore new areas, Cheng pointed out. With the help of cross-border e-commerce platforms, the share of orders from Southeast Asia has jumped to about 20 percent of the company's total, she added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev