CHONGQING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Xie Huan, a staffer of a kitchenware manufacturing firm, has meticulously prepared a pile of company introduction booklets in English for the ongoing cross-border e-commerce trade fair being held in southwest China's Chongqing.

"We embarked on cross-border e-commerce business a few years ago," said Xie, who is in charge of the cross-border e-commerce business at Chongqing Deng's Kitchenware Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a company boasting a history spanning more than 100 years in kitchenware manufacturing.

Xie's company is based in Dazu District, Chongqing. Its forging technology has been listed on the city's intangible cultural heritage protection list. Today, its products including kitchen knives have been exported to the United States, European countries and Southeast Asian countries.

"We hope to attract more international customers and platforms through this event, so that we can expand overseas markets through cross-border e-commerce. We are highly optimistic about our overseas business in the post-pandemic era," said Xie, whose company has set up a booth at the trade fair, a major event of the fifth Western China International Fair for Investment and Trade, which kicked off on Thursday.

The fair has attracted more than 500 enterprises from home and abroad, along with more than 2,200 purchasing agents.

Chongqing YGM Technology CO., Ltd., which specializes in manufacturing gaming mice and keyboards, is one of the participants hoping to unlock cross-border e-commerce business opportunities.

"Cross-border e-commerce provides a crucial channel for our exports. Last year, our export value reached approximately 10 million yuan (about 1.42 million U.S. dollars), with half of the volume coming from cross-border e-commerce," said Pan Yangang, the company's CEO.

"Cross-border e-commerce is undoubtedly a trend," said Wu Na, a business manager at a technology company, adding the company has developed in the domestic market for 13 years and began to carry out exporting in 2020 in partnership with OSELL, a Chongqing-based company dedicated to providing cross-border trade services.

"OSELL helped our products enter the Indonesian market, leading to a significant breakthrough in our export business. Our sales exceeded 8 million yuan in 2020," said Wu.

"We focused on cross-border e-commerce services at the outset, but we have developed more services for our customers including finance and sales channels," said Zeng Jianwen, vice chairman of OSELL Group. The company boasts over 50 offline service centers in China and has established overseas channel service centers in nearly 30 countries.

Nowadays, cross-border e-commerce has become a new driving force for China's foreign trade development, and a new channel for enterprises' transformation, upgrading and high-quality development. Meanwhile, an increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider cross-border e-commerce an essential tool to expand their international business.

In 2022, Chongqing's cross-border e-commerce reached 40.7 billion yuan, up 27.9 percent year on year, while the figure for the whole country reached 2.11 trillion yuan, up 9.8 percent compared to the previous year.

Recognizing the immense potential of SMEs, many global e-commerce platforms including Amazon, eBay and AliExpress have also participated in the fair, seeking cooperation opportunities.

At eBay's exhibition booth, Deng Kai, the company's business development manager, found himself surrounded by visitors.

"Most of them come to consult how to sell their products to the United States or European countries through our platform," Deng said, noting that dozens of clients including large factories and traditional foreign trade companies, SMEs, and startups without cross-border e-commerce experience, have expressed their interest in cooperating with eBay in the past two days.

"Cross-border e-commerce in the western region of China has witnessed rapid growth over the past decade. There are abundant talents and mature industries. Cross-border e-commerce plays an important role for companies to explore international markets and enhance their brand reputation," Deng said.

"An e-commerce platform is like a ship, while enterprises are the crew on board. Together, we set sail heading for overseas markets, which benefits both of us," he added.