The World Cup trophy is on display during a FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour event as the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup counts down 200 days to kick-off in Doha, Qatar, May 5, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese companies are ramping up efforts to export facilities and goods for the coming FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar in November.

He Lin, chairman of Shanghai Voshon International Co, told the Global Times on Friday that her company won a contract to provide over 10,000 guardrails for the World Cup, which will cover almost all the guardrail demand for the event. 

She said the goods are being shipped via Shanghai and will take around 20 days to arrive. 

Liu Youling, chairman of Shanghai GL Environmental Technology Co, told the Global Times on Friday that the company won a sewage treatment order worth 2 million yuan ($296,243) via alibaba.com. The goods were shipped from Ningbo port in East China’s Zhejiang Province on Thursday, and are set to arrive within 25 days.

“It is our first time to serve the World Cup, and it only took us around two weeks to reach a deal,” Liu said. Liu opened the company’s first online store in 2016, and now has four stores on alibaba.com. 

A merchant in Yiwu, the world's small commodity capital in East China's Zhejiang Province, told the Global Times that currently they are exporting stickers, scarves, water cups and national flags for the World Cup. 

The World Cup has driven several hot procurement trends in the second half of this year, in addition to regular holidays such as Christmas and Black Friday.

The export volume of football-related items such as clothing, shoes, toys and VR helmets to Qatar via alibaba.com has increased recently, and demand for customization in areas such as football field fences has also begun to emerge, according to information sent to the Global Times on Friday.  

In addition, on the consumer electronics side, the demand for high-definition TVs, projectors and home theaters has increased significantly. The demand for VR headsets is increasing in the German, Turkish and US markets and the demand for high-definition projection equipment that can be hand-held is soaring in the US, Brazil and the UK, said a foreign trade forecast released by alibaba.com for the second half of this year.

China’s foreign trade is seeing a solid recovery trend, though challenges remain, such as concerns about weakening external demand. 

The container throughput at eight Chinese ports increased 26.8 percent year-on-year in the last 10 days of July, with the foreign trade business showing strong growth of 29.3 percent, while domestic trade business expanded by 19.3 percent, industry data showed on Thursday.

Given the normal fluctuation of exports, Liu said the company’s export business has been relatively stable in the past six years, and she predicted that this year’s exports could reach an increase of 40 percent from the previous year.  

He Lin from Shanghai Voshon said their customers have found it hard to come to China in the past few years due to the epidemic, but now they choose to attract customers online, and sales have been soaring thanks to finding customers in more countries. 

“I think there is no country that can replace made-in-China products, given the centralized industrial chain, complete supporting facilities and convenient logistics,” she said.

If there was no cross-border e-commerce platform, customers around the world could not easily find Chinese sellers, she added.

China's foreign trade recovery continued in the first half of 2022, with the country's total imports and exports expanding 9.4 percent year-on-year, reflecting a steady overall economic rebound amid the government's policy package to stabilize the economy while getting COVID-19 flare-ups under control through targeted measures.