The inaugural Global Digital Trade Expo opens in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 11. [Photo/WeChat account: tzfb001]

Fifteen companies from Taizhou are attending the inaugural Global Digital Trade Expo, which kicks off in Hangzhou, capital city of East China's Zhejiang province on Dec 11.

The companies are primarily involved in fields such as decorative materials, kitchen and sanitary products, daily necessities, crafts and glasses, and outdoor leisure products. 

Ying Jianlin, general manager of Linhai Jiahao Daily Necessities Co Ltd, a company which sells 80 percent of its products to Europe and the United States, said that they hope to further expand their domestic sales by attending the exhibition. 

The exhibition, which was sponsored by the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Commerce, spans 80,000 square meters and has attracted more than 800 domestic and foreign heavyweights in the digital trade segment, including Tesla, Alibaba and Tencent.

Digital trade has emerged as an important approach for foreign trade companies from Taizhou to seek business growth during the COVID-19 epidemic.

In the first 10 months of this year, Taizhou's import and export volume amounted to 231.55 billion yuan ($33 billion), a year-on-year uptick of 18.9 percent, 2.9 percentage points higher than the provincial average. 

Over the same period, the city's cross-border e-commerce exports totaled 8.44 billion yuan. Business to business exports on Alibaba surged 18 percent - the highest in Zhejiang - to $510 million.