Headquartered in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, Hisense sees South Africa as one of its strategic hubs for global development. [Photo/Guanhai News]

Qingdao Customs has enhanced services such as intellectual property protection and AEO certification to assist local enterprises in expanding their businesses in the African market.

Qingdao's export value to African countries grew by 9.9 percent year-on-year during the first 11 months of this year, according to Qingdao Customs.

Zhang Chenming, the person in charge of Qingdao Phoenix Dongxiang Printing and Dyeing Co., Ltd., said that its brand is now one of the most popular batik brands in the African market. As such, the company’s exclusive trademark rights have been repeatedly infringed.

"With the support of the customs, the problem of intellectual property infringement has been gradually resolved. Our products can now be found in more than 20 countries in Africa, and thousands of containers of products are exported to Africa every year," Zhang said.

One of the Qingdao companies in the African market that has benefited is Shandong Gangzhong Building Materials Group Co Ltd.

"We feel that the demand for our products in the African market is increasing. But the process of getting new markets and new customers to accept the company's products has always been difficult for companies," said Yu Yeshuai, general manager of the company.

"When we learned that the Customs AEO certification was very helpful in stabilizing customers and developing markets, we immediately conducted consultation. With the help of the Customs, we successfully obtained the certification in early July."