Hong Kong Trade Development Council: 82% of foreign-related companies surveyed intend to increase their existing overseas business and 63% will develop new overseas business

The Zhitong Finance App learned that recent research by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council shows that many mainland enterprises face challenges such as global trade policy adjustments, rising protectionism, and global supply chain restructuring. Their “going global” strategy has moved from focusing only on market expansion to a more comprehensive business layout. Among the foreign-related companies surveyed, 82% indicated their intention to increase their existing overseas business, and 63% would develop new overseas business. 54% of enterprises plan to further expand overseas procurement business, 47% want to expand overseas sales networks, and 36% strengthen technical cooperation with overseas partners.

Jointly building “Belt and Road” countries and regions has become an important direction for mainland enterprises to deploy globally. 94% of the companies surveyed indicated their intention to develop in related markets, a significant increase from 73% in 2023. 91% of companies prefer the ASEAN region and hope to further expand their international business, such as Singapore (49%), Vietnam (46%), Thailand (44%), and Malaysia (41%).

Furthermore, 48% of the companies surveyed intend to expand the markets of advanced European countries, and 47% intend to further develop business in the US and Canada. Meanwhile, the proportion of companies interested in expanding the Middle East market rose from 33% in 2023 to 46%, while Latin America rose from 17% to 34%. Compared with 2023, the willingness of mainland enterprises to increase their business or further layout in all major overseas markets has increased, reflecting that mainland enterprises are seizing business development opportunities in different regions through a more diversified layout.

In addition to the uncertainty brought about by changes in US trade policy, mainland enterprises are also facing challenges such as increased competition from other regions (61%), geographical tension (55%), rising mainland costs (51%), and tariff and non-tariff trade barriers (50%). In this context, “going global” companies are continuously adjusting their international business development strategies to improve production/service efficiency (60%), deal with overseas market risks (57%), and control overall production/sales costs (57%).

In order to meet the various challenges of “going global”, 83% of the surveyed companies chose Hong Kong as a service platform, higher than mainland China (78%) and Singapore (31%).

Hong Kong Trade Development Council Research Director Pang Ming said that the strategy of mainland enterprises to “go global” is gradually being extended from simply focusing on market expansion to supply chain integration, cross-border investment and high value-added business development, and the demand for professional services is also increasing. When laying out the global market, enterprises not only actively explore and jointly build “Belt and Road” countries and other emerging markets, but also pay attention to the development opportunities brought by advanced economies.

Pang Ming pointed out that Hong Kong, as the professional service platform chosen by the most surveyed companies, can help enterprises connect more effectively with the mainland and international markets and seize global development opportunities with its “intranet and external communication” advantages and professional service capabilities in finance, law, and accounting. The “Belt and Road Summit” to be held in September is an efficient trade platform to promote exchanges and connections between enterprises and global partners and facilitate cross-regional cooperation.