Lanzhou New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone presents a bustling scene—trucks with license plates from various provinces enter and exit orderly at the gate; goods from domestic and international sources are stacked like small piers in the storage area; machinery roars steadily in processing workshops; and new equipment is being installed on production lines in newly expanded factories.
"This is a land full of promise!" said Du Dafeng, Vice President of Hangzhou Shiyan Group Co., Ltd. and head of Lanzhou Shiyan Technology Co., Ltd., standing by his office window. "We plan to establish an AI-enabled new e-commerce industry here, targeting future markets as well as Central Asia and ASEAN, to help Gansu's specialty industries expand globally."
In the first two months of this year, the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Lanzhou New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone reported encouraging results—import and export trade reached 1.749 billion yuan, doubling year-on-year. In 2025, the zone achieved import and export trade of 7.459 billion yuan, a 137.8% increase from the previous year. Over 120 new enterprises settled in the zone in 2025, with more than 70 engaging in actual trade activities. Among them, 35 were newly registered cross-border e-commerce companies, including 17 brought in by Hangzhou Shiyan Group Co., Ltd. alone.
What has contributed to the success of Lanzhou New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone in attracting businesses, fostering industrial clusters, and doubling foreign trade?
Gansu Western Grain Source International Trading Co., Ltd.'s flaxseed crude oil production line is operating at full capacity. "We process flaxseed imported from Kazakhstan, with a daily processing capacity of 500 tons of raw materials, yielding over 180 tons of oil," said Ma Quancai, the company's head. When asked about sales channels, Ma explained that several leading grain and oil enterprises in Lanzhou New Area form a closed loop from raw material import and processing to sales.
Thanks to the bonded zone's open policies, companies can store and process imported flaxseed within the zone while deferring import tariffs until the crude oil is cleared through customs. "This improves capital flexibility," Ma noted. "For example, importing a shipment of flaxseed worth over 5 million yuan would require paying approximately 900,000 yuan in tariffs upon entry outside the bonded zone, raising costs to over 6 million yuan. Inside the zone, tariff payments can be deferred, allowing us to complete orders with just over 5 million yuan."
Lanzhou New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone Development and Construction Co., Ltd. has leveraged advantages such as location, policies, and stable return trips of Central Asian grain trains to deepen engagement with Central Asian markets and coordinate with domestic industries. By collaborating with companies like Western Grain Source, Huiying Oils, and Fangxingda, the zone has enabled bonded storage and processing of raw materials like flaxseed and barley. In 2025, the company established an office in Almaty to facilitate grain and oil procurement, accelerating the formation of a synergistic development system where trade drives logistics, logistics spurs industry, and industry, in turn, supports logistics.
By the end of March this year, the zone had imported 34,000 tons of flaxseed, a 183% year-on-year increase, demonstrating accelerated integration both inside and outside the zone and synergistic development across upstream and downstream industries.
As grain and oil operations expanded, the bonded zone company identified new opportunities—procuring non-ferrous metal products from Central Asia and Russia through its Almaty office. Could the international-domestic linkage model for grain and oil trade be replicated in mineral products?
The company’s leadership thought of Baiyin Group, a long-term partner of its parent company, Gansu International Logistics Group. After negotiations, a mineral supply agreement was reached, enabling the import of Russian zinc concentrate into the bonded zone for distribution to Baiyin City.
Following the first non-ferrous metals transaction, the Almaty office connected with Kazakhstan Copper Company and local markets, securing supply service agreements worth over 200 million yuan with Lanzhou Zichen Copper and Hailiang for electrolytic copper.
In response to growing business and local new energy companies' need to mitigate raw material price fluctuations, the bonded zone company established a non-ferrous metals distribution center, creating a new supply chain channel for "overseas direct procurement—bonded distribution—precise delivery."
Further successes followed. Late last year, as imports of grain, oil, and mineral products increased, Kazakh partners required modern loading equipment for logistics bases. The bonded zone company procured domestic loading equipment and leased it to partners under bonded leasing terms—the first such transaction in Gansu—enhancing cross-border machinery supply and supporting industrial cooperation with Central Asian countries.
To leverage the zone’s advantages in non-ferrous and precious metals distribution, Baiyin Group relocated export operations for 20,000 kilograms of silver and gold to the bonded zone at the end of last year.
Since 2025, the zone has handled nearly 37,000 tons of non-ferrous and precious metals, with import and export trade exceeding 3.8 billion yuan.
The linkage from grain and oil to mineral products has not only diversified the zone’s business landscape but also deepened integration with Lanzhou New Area and provincial industries, elevating the platform’s capabilities, quality, and standards.
The transition from trade to industrial clustering, and further to integrated provincial industrial upgrading, stems from the bonded zone’s effective use of policy and functional advantages to attract and support processing enterprises and upstream-downstream supporting industries.
Two companies that settled in 2025 illustrate this approach.
Suoying Technology Group, headquartered in Beijing, is a high-tech enterprise specializing in R&D, production, and application of anti-icing materials for roads, and management of transportation and municipal engineering facilities. It is the only company globally with full industrial chain technology for anti-icing products. Its innovative materials, mixed with asphalt, prevent road surfaces from freezing in winter and cracking in summer.
In November 2025, while discussing international transportation cooperation with Gansu International Logistics Group to expand into Central Asian and ASEAN markets, Suoying was invited by the bonded zone company to establish production lines in Lanzhou New Area. The zone offered policy benefits, location advantages, and joint international market development prospects.
"The bonded zone’s tax rebate policy was particularly appealing," said Wan Kun, plant manager of Gansu Suoying Materials Technology Co., Ltd. "Outside the zone, rebates are processed only after goods leave the country. Inside, exports are treated as having left the territory once processed, allowing early rebates and easing financial pressure." With additional incentives like rent discounts and financing support, an agreement was reached within a month. Production lines constructed from December 2025 are now in the equipment installation phase, with trial production expected by late April and full operation by late May. Of the group’s total 700,000-ton capacity, 600,000 tons will be located in Gansu.
Hangzhou Shiyan Group Co., Ltd., a well-known e-commerce platform service provider, decided to invest in the bonded zone after learning about its "Bonded Preferred" live-streaming brand, Digital Silk Road International Trade Innovation Zone, and two cross-border e-commerce supervision centers approved by customs. The company secured authorization from AliExpress and attracted 17 e-commerce firms to cluster in the zone.
"The advantages here align perfectly with our development strategy," said Du Dafeng. The company is focusing on AI-enabled cross-border e-commerce, anticipating a future where AI assistants facilitate seamless online shopping. Lanzhou New Area offers location benefits, an e-commerce ecosystem, bonded zone policies, and a vocational education zone providing talent support.
The company’s broader goal is to create new digital trade channels to empower Gansu products and industries in global markets.
On November 10, 2025, the bonded zone’s cross-border e-commerce industrial park was inaugurated, achieving 130 million yuan in trade within a month.
The arrival of new technology, materials, and e-commerce enterprises has strengthened the zone’s industrial capacity, development momentum, future potential, and regional influence.
To foster a first-class business environment, the bonded zone company promoted a "government-customs-enterprise" collaboration mechanism in 2025. Regular coordination meetings with the zone’s administrative committee and Jincheng Customs address operational issues through a "committee + company" model, ensuring problem resolution and effective implementation.
For example, a dedicated channel for non-bonded goods was opened to facilitate cross-border e-commerce companies’ offline product displays outside the zone. Additionally, weighbridge and IT system upgrades at the main gate reduced processing time for oversized vehicles from three minutes to ten seconds.
To serve over 500 enterprises, Gansu Province’s Department of Commerce established the province’s first comprehensive overseas service platform in the bonded zone in November last year, offering full-cycle support from market intelligence and logistics to cross-border finance and legal consulting.
The bonded zone company also set up a property management branch and an investment promotion center, providing one-on-one services from policy guidance to operational support. An industrial park infrastructure project, investing 137 million yuan to revitalize 160.5 acres of land, will deliver 57,000 square meters of storage facilities to Gansu Huayu Plastics Industry by April, supporting Central Asian agricultural markets.
A representative of the bonded zone company stated that they will seize opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative, adhere to the "Deepen Central Asia, Connect Globally" strategy, and utilize policy and institutional advantages to enhance the business environment. Focusing on agricultural products, non-ferrous metals, cross-border e-commerce, and new technologies, the zone will pursue targeted investment, accelerate integrated domestic-foreign trade, and expand industrial scale to improve performance evaluations.
New thinking has paved the way for new achievements. While grain and oil trade remains a traditional strength, the zone seized opportunities in mineral products, diversifying its business and forming a闭环 of "going global" and "bringing in." As industrial clustering advanced, the zone transformed into a service hub for domestic enterprises expanding abroad, shifting from a "corridor economy" to a "landing economy." By fostering collaboration and innovating management, the zone has turned advantages into successes.
Today, through physical and digital trade channels and ecosystem development, Lanzhou New Area Comprehensive Bonded Zone empowers a more dynamic "new global expansion," serving as a processing and distribution center for Central Asian grain and oil, non-ferrous metals, and cross-border e-commerce, evolving into an influential industrial cluster in the region.
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