Foreign-trade businesses adopt survival tactics

China's foreign trade volume totaled 6.57 trillion yuan ($931 billion) in the first quarter of this year, down by 6.4 percent year-on-year. The country's exports dropped by 11.4 percent to 3.33 trillion yuan, while imports declined by 0.7 percent to 3.24 trillion yuan, according to the General Administration of Customs.

However, Bill Gao, a businessman based in Beijing, has received more overseas orders, as lockdown measures enforced in other countries have led to sharp falls in production capacity.

Gao imports and exports a type of metal for use in automatic dish washers－an extremely small but niche market. There are only three such producers worldwide－in China, the United Kingdom and Hungary.

"Since production resumed in China, and with the UK factory still closed, my orders have risen by nearly 50 percent compared with the same period last year," Gao said.

He has his problems, however. Raw materials are sourced from India, but a supply shortage caused by lockdowns at some local factories has resulted in prices surging. Transportation charges have also nearly tripled due to the pandemic.

"Since the contract price is set long beforehand, profit margins have been squeezed significantly due to soaring costs," Gao said.