Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province has played an increasingly bigger role in bolstering the nation's "dual-circulation" development pattern, which sees the domestic market as the mainstay of the economy, with the domestic and international markets reinforcing each other.

The city's foreign trade volume amounted to 563.89 billion yuan ($86.75 billion) in the first half of this year, with its exports accounting for 3.64 percent of the nation's total, according to official statistics from Ningbo Customs.

Over the six-month period, six places in Ningbo made the list of national foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases, bringing the total number of such bases in the city to 19, ranking first in the nation.

National foreign trade transformation and upgrading bases refer to industrial clusters that manufacture export commodities, which serve as important engines stabilizing the growth of exports in the nation.

A total of 83 export brands from the city were listed among the 2021 Famous Zhejiang Export Brands, ranking first in Zhejiang.

Local foreign trade companies have also showed strong results in exploring domestic markets with great potential.

Ningbo-based ergonomic solution products manufacturer Loctek achieved sales worth more than 6 million yuan in an hour on June 1, the first day of the "618" shopping festival.

Its sales of height adjustable tables ranked first on e-commerce platforms like Taobao and JD.com.

From January to June, Ningbo's imports and exports via cross-border e-commerce platforms reached 87.78 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.2 percent, ranking high in the country. 

As of June, the city had built more than 200 overseas warehouses, spanning more than two million square meters, in 20 countries and regions worldwide.

The number of warehouses and their total area accounted for about 11.1 percent and 16.7 percent of the country's total respectively.