Journalists at Zhoushan Evening News visited several key foreign trade companies that have resumed work in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province on Feb 16.

A key foreign trade company is one with annual export volume over 10 million yuan ($1.43 million).

Zhoushan Zhonghai Grain & Oil Industrial Co, which ranks among the top 20 foreign trade companies in the city, is based at the Zhoushan International Grain and Oil Industrial Park in Dinghai district and mainly focuses on the production, marketing and export of soya bean products.

The company resumed work on Feb 10 and has produced 16,000 metric tons of soya-bean pulp and 4,000 tons of soya bean oil.

"As the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, some of our employees could not return to work, but we’ve been working hard to fully recover production capacity," said Sun Shijun, general manager of the company. "Meanwhile, we’re trying to charter trucks and freighters to deliver products to our clients."

Zhoushan Gelin Food Ltd is a Sino-foreign joint venture with monthly sales volume of more than 30 million yuan and is based at a marine industrial park in Dinghai district.

The company resumed work on Feb 12 and has produced two tons of prawn products, which will be exported to several foreign countries and regions, including the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union.

"Our company has only resumed 10 percent of production capacity, because most of the employees haven’t returned to work since the epidemic broke out," said Miao Lingnian, president of the company. "We have chartered several buses to bring some employees back."

According to Miao, the company has carried out regular inspections and disinfection in accordance with the local government's requirements for the prevention and control of the epidemic, in an effort to protect its employees from the virus.

In recent days, the Zhoushan municipal government has been dedicated to helping local enterprises resume work while preventing the spread of the virus. The city's bureau of commerce has applied for 300 million yuan to help with work resumption, officials said.

By the end of Feb 15, a total of 275 companies above designated scale (companies with annual revenue of above 20 million yuan) in Zhoushan had resumed work, 36 of which are key foreign trade companies.