A Japanese LNG vessel docks at a terminal in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Yao Feng/For China Daily]

The State Council recently approved 46 cities and regions across the country to establish a pilot comprehensive zone for developing cross-border e-commerce, including five cities in Zhejiang province - Huzhou, Jiaxing, Quzhou, Taizhou and Lishui, bringing the total number of the zones in the province to 10, ranking first in the country.

Zhoushan, where the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone is located, has also been approved for cross-border e-commerce retail and import business. 

Zhejiang, as the first province in China to establish a cross-border e-commerce pilot zone, is consistently striving to improve e-commerce regulatory mechanisms, enterprises and infrastructure. It ranks among the best provinces in the country in this regard.

According to statistics from the province's commerce department, cross-border e-commerce retail sales in Zhejiang totaled 105.15 billion yuan ($14.82 billion) in 2019, up 29.8 percent year-on-year. Exports grew 35.3 percent to 77.71 billion yuan and imports grew 16.3 percent to 27.44 billion yuan. Around 97,000 online stores were active on mainstream cross-border e-commerce platforms, an increase of 15,000 over the previous year.

Cross-border e-commerce played an important role in the province's effort to stabilize foreign trade and promote digital transformation during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Statistics show that cross-border e-commerce retail sales in Zhejiang reached 24.2 billion yuan during the first three months of this year, up 14 percent year-on-year. Exports grew 8.9 percent to 17.79 billion yuan and imports grew 31 percent to 6.41 billion yuan.