Xiamen ITG Proposes a New Path for Supply Chain Globalization: From Trader to Value Chain Integrator

Event Overview

From June 28 to 29, 2026, the third Global Expansion Summit was held at Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore. Rong Kunming, Executive Vice President of Xiamen C&D Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "Xiamen C&D"), delivered a speech at the summit, proposing a new pathway for the globalization of supply chains: from "global trader" to "industrial partner," and ultimately growing into a "value chain integrator." This transformation path provides a new strategic perspective for Chinese supply chain enterprises to compete globally.

Supply Chain Background

Global supply chains are undergoing profound restructuring. Geopolitical risks, escalating trade barriers, digital transformation pressures, and ESG compliance requirements are forcing Chinese supply chain enterprises to shift from the traditional "China-centric" trade model to a truly global operational model. Over the past few decades, Chinese supply chain enterprises have primarily played the role of intermediaries, profiting from low-cost procurement and exports. However, this model is facing challenges. On one hand, global buyers increasingly demand supply chain transparency and resilience; on the other hand, procurement strategies that solely rely on China's manufacturing base are being replaced by "China+1" or "friend-shoring."

The core issue for Chinese supply chain enterprises is how to leap from low-value-added trade links to high-value-added value chain integration. The transformation practice of Xiamen C&D shows that companies need to build end-to-end capabilities covering raw material procurement, logistics, processing, warehousing, and even pricing power in order to gain a foothold in intense global competition.

Corporate Decision-Making Logic

Xiamen C&D's choice of this transformation path is based on insights into global industrial chain trends. The company has over 40 years of international trade experience, initially focusing on bulk commodity trading. However, as the global supply chain structure changed, the company realized that a pure buying-and-selling model is difficult to create long-term value. In his speech, Rong Kunming pointed out: "The future of globalization is not about buying globally and selling globally, but about organizing global resources, connecting the industrial ecosystem, and creating long-term value through collaboration."

The specific decision-making logic includes three aspects:

1. From Transaction to Embedding: Pure trade cannot form a competitive barrier. Through localized operations in countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, and Uzbekistan, Xiamen C&D deeply embeds itself into local industrial chains, extending from raw material procurement to processing, warehousing, and logistics, and even participating in pricing mechanisms. This deep embedding increases customer stickiness and supply chain stability.

2. From a Single Link to the Full Chain: In its wood chip business in Vietnam, Xiamen C&D not only procures raw materials but also builds local procurement, processing, warehousing, and its own wood chip vessels, achieving full value chain coverage from forest to port. This model effectively controls costs and quality, shortens delivery cycles, and enhances risk resilience.

3. From Experience-Driven to AI-Driven: Xiamen C&D is advancing an AI-empowered supply chain strategy, including the development of an intelligent iron ore decision-making model that combines proprietary supply chain data with AI algorithms to improve market forecast accuracy and supply chain resilience. Digital capabilities become a key support for upgrading from a trader to a value chain integrator.## Supply Chain Impact

Xiamen ITG's transformation has had a profound impact on various aspects of the supply chain:

• Supplier Management: By becoming an industrial partner, Xiamen ITG has established long-term strategic relationships with upstream mines, steel mills, etc., rather than short-term transactional relationships. This cooperation model reduces the risk of customer churn for suppliers while ensuring stability in procurement costs.

• Manufacturers: In the Vietnam wood chip business, Xiamen ITG provides local pulp mills with stable raw material supply and logistics support, reducing manufacturers' inventory pressure and transportation delays.

• Logistics Companies: Owned floating storage and wood chip vessels enhance logistics control. In Singapore, the ITG Amoy floating storage participates in the Platts fuel oil pricing window, becoming the only floating storage operated by a Chinese enterprise, which strengthens pricing power in the logistics segment.

• Procurement System: Shifting from pure procurement execution to integrated solutions combining procurement, logistics, and financial services, shortening the procurement cycle and reducing total cost of ownership.

• Inventory System: Full-chain operations allow Xiamen ITG to dynamically adjust inventory levels based on downstream demand, reducing capital occupation. AI prediction models further optimize inventory decisions.

• Regional Industrial Chain: In Uzbekistan, after ten years of deep cultivation, Xiamen ITG started with cotton yarn trading and gradually expanded to full cotton textile industry chain supply chain services, helping local manufacturing upgrade and enhancing regional connectivity.

Regional Impact

• Asia: Singapore, as a global commodity pricing and trading hub, Xiamen ITG's localized operations (e.g., floating storage participating in Platts pricing) enhance Chinese enterprises' voice in the Asian supply chain. The Vietnam wood chip business strengthens the synergy of the Southeast Asian forest-pulp-paper integrated industrial chain.

• Europe: Although direct cases are fewer, as a global metal and mineral trader, Xiamen ITG's European customers can reduce procurement risks through more stable supply chain services.

• North America: U.S. buyers are increasingly concerned about supply chain transparency; Xiamen ITG's full-chain traceability model can meet their ESG and compliance requirements.

• Middle East and Latin America: Xiamen ITG's cooperation with Middle Eastern mineral producers and Latin American agricultural suppliers may extend from trade to industrial investment, promoting regional industrial upgrading.

• Africa: Africa's abundant mineral resources attract Chinese supply chain companies to enter. Xiamen ITG's "cluster-style globalization" model may drive upstream and downstream enterprises in the Chinese industrial chain to enter the African market together.

Future Trends

In the next 1-5 years, global supply chain companies will face the following trends:

1. Value Chain Integration Will Become Mainstream: The survival space for pure traders will be compressed, and value chain integrators with full-chain service capabilities will gain competitive advantages.

2. Regionalization and Globalization Coexist: Regional hubs represented by Singapore and Vietnam will carry more supply chain node functions, while companies still maintain global resource integration capabilities.3. AI-Driven Supply Chain Resilience: AI will be widely used in demand forecasting, risk management, and inventory optimization to enhance the supply chain's ability to withstand shocks.

4. Clustered Globalization: The clustered globalization model proposed by Xiamen ITG Group, where multiple enterprises go global together with complementary capabilities and shared resources, will reduce risks for individual companies and improve overall competitiveness.

5. ESG as a Hard Constraint: Supply chain transparency and carbon footprint management will become basic thresholds for companies bidding for international orders, while full-chain operations will make it easier to collect and report ESG data.

The practices of Xiamen ITG Group reveal a feasible path for the transformation and upgrading of Chinese supply chain enterprises. However, this transformation requires long-term investment and deep local cultivation, imposing higher demands on companies' capital, talent, and digital capabilities. In the future, the ability to successfully evolve from a trader to a value chain integrator will determine the position of Chinese supply chain enterprises in the global landscape.