East China’s Fujian province will increase support for e-commerce companies, and strive to exceed 2 trillion yuan ($320 billion) in e-commerce trading volume by 2018, according to a recently released development plan.
The province will foster and bring in at least five e-commerce giants with an annual transaction of more than 10 billion yuan, and roll out support in taxes and other policies to local e-commerce companies with annual revenues reaching 300 million yuan, 500 million yuan and 1 billion yuan for the first time, the plan said.
The moves will step up Fujian’s prominent identity as a strong e-commerce province, which already boasts four national-level e-commerce demonstration cities: Fuzhou, Xiamen, Putian and Quanzhou.
In the future, cross-Straits cooperation and private enterprises will become the new growth areas for Fujian’s ambitious e-commerce development blueprint.
For example, the southeastern city of Xiamen was recently approved by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) to start an express shipping business with Taiwan, becoming the only city on the mainland to pilot this program.
In January, GAC gave the green light to pilot projects for cross-border e-commerce in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, in addition to Xiamen. The two cities also boast the mainland’s only two markets with Taiwan commodities.
As the first comprehensive pilot zone open to Taiwan on the Chinese mainland, Pingtan enjoys a number of favorable policies, which are considered competitive edges in developing cross-border business.
Quanzhou city in southern Fujian will play an increasingly vital role in Fujian’s e-ecommerce plan, with a thriving express delivery business, which recorded revenue of 510 million yuan, ranking first in the province last year, according to a report by a research institute under e-commerce magnate Alibaba Co.
More than 100,000 private companies are engaged in e-commerce in Quanzhou, most of which are in sales of shoes, garments and tea.
Jinjiang, a county-level city in Quanzhou, has set a goal of reaching 100 billion yuan in e-commerce by 2016, and of having breakthroughs in the business of shoes and garments, snack foods and petrochemicals.
