An employee works in a warehouse of Elogistic UK, a Chinese-owned company, near Birmingham in Britain, Jan. 28, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will promote the construction of overseas warehouses and expand cross-border e-commerce exports, He Yadong, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday.

Cross-border e-commerce serves as a vital force for boosting the development of China's foreign trade. Over the past five years, China's cross-border e-commerce trade has grown more than tenfold, He told a regular press conference.

The ministry will push for the release of guidelines on expanding cross-border e-commerce exports and advancing the construction of overseas warehouses, he said.

During the first quarter of 2024, China's cross-border e-commerce trade reached 577.6 billion yuan (about 81.23 billion U.S. dollars), rising 9.6 percent year on year, of which exports amounted to 448 billion yuan with a growth rate of 14 percent.

China has over 120,000 cross-border e-commerce entities and more than 1,000 cross-border e-commerce industrial parks. The number of overseas warehouses has surpassed 2,500 so far, covering a total area of over 30 million square meters.