Industrial might of Shandong province moves westward

More enterprises in Shandong province are seeking the huge market potential brought by the Belt and Road Initiative, said local officials and businesspeople.

Countries along the route have become the favorite destination for Shandong to transfer its industrial capacity to thanks to their lower costs and abundant resources, according to Zhang Xingcheng, deputy chief of Shandong Bureau of Commerce.

"Shandong's international cooperation mainly focuses on rubber tires, textiles and garments, machinery and electronic products. Some key cooperative projects have made positive progress," Zhang said.

The government encourages enterprises to take necessary measures to grasp opportunities to go global.

Construction enterprises in Shandong have cooperated with such State-owned enterprises as China State Construction Corp, China Metallurgical Group and China Civil Engineering Construction Corp, using their funds, technologies and channels to expand overseas business.

To help local enterprises to solve financing problems, the Shandong Department of Commerce has cooperated with China's major banks and financial institutions, asking them to finance Shandong's major projects relating to the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to the bureau, Shandong's investment in the Belt and Road regions has reached 29.4 billion yuan ($4.3 billion) to date, accounting for 16.7 percent of the province's total outbound investment. The turnover of such projects has reached 42.3 billion yuan.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has offered more opportunities for enterprises to expand overseas," said Wu Yuefei, an executive at Kerui Petroleum's branch in Uzbekistan.

Kerui, a Shandong-based petroleum equipment company, signed a deal for an Uzbek project last May. The company and its Uzbek partners will cooperate to build 46 gas stations, with total investment of $100 million.

Because of rich oil and gas resources in Uzbekistan, Kerui opened an office there in 2008, selling equipment for oil and gas exploitation and offering other services.

Wu said that the project will provide more than 1,000 jobs for locals and help Uzbekistan to upgrade its energy industry.

A coal-fired power plant in Pakistan's Punjab province, built by the Shandong branch of Huaneng Corp and Shandong Ruyi Technology, is scheduled to become operational in June. Total investment in the project is $1.8 billion.

As a priority project in promotion of the Sino-Pakistani Economic Corridor, it will help to resolve local power shortages.

Shandong enterprises are also expanding in Africa. Shandong's farming machine and truck maker Lovol won an order to deliver 500 tractors to Mali in March, as part of the Malian government's procurement package.

When Lovol exported its first tractor to Mali in 2010, its high-quality and considerate services impressed the locals, resulting in more orders to follow, according to Chang Jiamao, deputy general manager of Lovol. The company has sold a total of 7,000 tractors and other machines to Mali.

Lovol products have been sold to more than 120 countries and regions in the world. Its exports to Belt and Road regions make up more than 50 percent of its total exports.