Rizhao foreign trade enterprises' New Year's sprint "(picture)

The picture shows customs officers conducting research on the export of fitness equipment in enterprises. Photo by Shi Wanli

At the beginning of the 15th Five Year Plan, the struggle is just right. At the beginning of the new year, Shandong Rizhao's foreign trade enterprises seized the opportunity and put into production with the enthusiasm of "running and sprinting", laying a solid foundation for the year's foreign trade exports.

In recent days, Zhongda Sports Industry Group Co., Ltd. has started a busy new year of production. In the dipping workshop, fitness equipment of different specifications are produced in batches and transported to the finished product warehouse after packaging is completed. After completing the supervision and customs clearance procedures at Rizhao Customs, a subsidiary of Qingdao Customs, these "healthy economy" products will soon be shipped across the sea to overseas markets and delivered to large discount retail enterprises that have been cooperating with them for more than ten years, starting the company's export business for the new year.

We are currently producing metal dumbbells, with a monthly shipment volume of up to 200 containers. This production line serves this large order almost all year round, and since New Year's Day this year, we have been able to deliver over 100 containers of goods steadily every month, "said Sun Haijiang, General Manager of Zhongda Sports Industry Group Co., Ltd.

In the past year, this company has exported over 11 million units of various fitness equipment, among which the latest patented products such as ergonomic ear dumbbells, treadmills, exercise bikes, and comprehensive trainers have performed well in exports. After years of development, the company has formed an enterprise that integrates the research and development, production, sales, scientific fitness services, and sports training of fitness equipment. Its products have passed multiple international certifications and are exported to more than 70 countries and regions.

The guidance from the customs has enabled us to take action with ease. Whether it is policy guidance for cross-border e-commerce transformation or optimization suggestions for customs clearance processes, they have accurately matched the needs of enterprises. "Xu Meifang, the chairman of the company, said that with the support of customs policies, the company's newly developed products have quickly passed international certification and smoothly entered the global market. In 2026, the company plans to fully migrate traditional offline trade to online, achieving the goal of doubling exports year-on-year.

Equally busy is Asia Pacific Senbo (Shandong) Pulp and Paper Co., Ltd. In the finished three-dimensional warehouse area, automated stacking machines shuttle non-stop, and forklifts load batches of high-quality white cardboard into container containers. This batch of goods will be shipped to Indonesia within this week for use in the local printing and publishing industry. The company currently has full orders and the production line is operating at full capacity.

In 2026, we will continue to optimize our product structure, enhance our green and environmental protection level, and deepen long-term cooperation with international customers, "said Zhuang Lina, the logistics manager of the company. The company is confident in achieving steady development of its export business this year and contributing more to the high-quality development of foreign trade.

Data witnesses the effectiveness of development. In the first 11 months of 2025, the total import and export value of foreign trade in Rizhao City reached 116.9 billion yuan. Among them, exports amounted to 42.91 billion yuan, with outstanding performance in the export of electromechanical and agricultural products; Imports amounted to 73.99 billion yuan, with bulk commodities such as iron ore and crude oil as the main growth engines.

Chen Wei, Deputy Director of Rizhao Customs, stated that the customs will continue to optimize the business environment at ports, promote the application of smart supervision models such as "advance declaration" and "two-step declaration", and continuously improve customs clearance efficiency. At the same time, we will make good use of the "one enterprise, one policy" assistance measures to provide guarantees for the safe and efficient entry of new energy vehicles, characteristic agricultural products, and other products into the international market. (Bai Xueyuan, Sun Hao/text)