Amidst accelerating global shifts and the deep restructuring of worldwide supply chains, ensuring security and resilience has become a critical mission for Chinese enterprises in the sector. Xiamen ITG Holding Group, a Fortune Global 500 company, has steadfastly pursued its international expansion strategy, leveraging the integration of industrial, supply, and value chains as its core foundation. The company is rapidly transforming from a traditional "trader" into an "industrial chain organizer." In a recent interview, Gao Shaoyong, member of the Party Committee and General Manager of ITG Holding Group, shared insights on overseas expansion, risk management, supply chain innovation, and international cooperation.

Question: This year, external market uncertainties have intensified. What key challenges are supply chain companies facing, and how are you addressing them?

This year, the conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran has disrupted global shipping, with blockages in the Strait of Hormuz driving oil price volatility and transmitting costs to the manufacturing sector. Simultaneously, several resource-rich nations have tightened their control over resources: Indonesia has cut its laterite nickel ore mining quota by roughly 30% and implemented a foreign exchange retention system for natural resource exports, while Zimbabwe has introduced export quota controls on lithium ore. These actions have disrupted raw material supplies, creating significant uncertainty for downstream industrial chains. In response, we are pursuing a strategy of "multiple sources, multiple routes, and multiple tools." We are expanding our global footprint, particularly in emerging markets, to reduce dependence on any single country or market. For instance, we have increased our presence in Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and Central Asia, diversifying the sources of bulk commodities such as soybeans, agricultural products, minerals, and cotton yarn. Currently, ITG's supply chain business covers over 170 countries and regions, serving more than 90,000 clients. With nearly 300 expatriate and localized staff, we have established over 50 overseas offices across more than 20 countries and regions. Business in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and RCEP member states is experiencing rapid growth.

We are also strengthening our logistics capabilities by investing in key nodes and enhancing our self-controlled systems. By adopting multimodal transport, we are opening up critical corridors. For example, in May 2025, the Central Asia Railway Express (Tashkent-Fuzhou) was launched, enabling ITG to continuously ship cotton and cotton yarn purchased from Uzbekistan to textile and garment production hubs on China's southeast coast. This route cuts transit time in half compared to the previous sea-rail联运 method and offers greater security and control.

Question: What new initiatives has ITG implemented in supply chain innovation, and what results have been achieved?

For ITG, supply chain innovation is a vital engine for fostering new productive forces and cultivating a second growth curve. Our approach is two-fold: one, we leverage digital and intelligent technologies to upgrade traditional supply chains; and two, we use industrial investment and capital ties to forge stronger bonds with industrial partners, addressing the instability often found in purely trade-based collaborations. In terms of digital technology, our "ITG Cloud Chain" platform has rapidly integrated advanced large models like DeepSeek, generating transaction volumes exceeding 35 billion yuan in the first half of the year. Our logistics platform, "Huitong+", utilizes AI to boost documentation efficiency by 90%. Furthermore, ITG spearheaded the creation of Xiamen Supply Chain Digital Innovation Company. By leveraging real-world industry applications, we have refined an "Iron Ore Intelligent Decision Chain," successfully moving "AI + Supply Chain" from scenario validation to large-scale implementation. In simple terms, this system acts as an "AI market advisor" for our iron ore trading business. It consolidates scattered data on prices, inventory, supply-demand dynamics, and shipping into a single panoramic view, allowing us to instantly assess market conditions and potential risks. The AI can then automatically analyze trends, issue early warnings, and provide hedging recommendations tailored to our actual inventory. This creates a complete intelligent pathway from "reading the market" to "making decisions," transforming pricing and hedging strategies from ones based on intuition into data-driven scientific decisions.

On the industrial cooperation front, we have evolved from our traditional role in commodity circulation to actively organizing the critical nodes of the industrial chain. This innovation is evident in two areas: First, we are extending our model towards actual operations. For instance, at the Qingdao Port Dongjiakou ore blending project, we customize and blend non-mainstream ores from multiple countries according to steel mills' specific requirements. This creates a full-chain service capability from "resources to processing to terminals," helping downstream clients reduce costs and improve efficiency, while also shifting our own value creation from simple trade margins to value-added processing and services. Second, we are connecting resources through capital. By strategically investing in Hunan Yuneng, participating in the IPO of Ma'anshan Iron & Steel, and forging strategic synergies with leading companies like SANY Group and Liaoning Port, we are using "equity for trade rights" to secure upstream resources and logistics channels, thereby enhancing the controllability and resilience of our supply chain. The results are particularly strong in emerging product categories: in the first half of this year, our contracted volume of special steels grew by roughly 70% year-on-year, the wood chip business more than doubled, and both alumina and bauxite volumes doubled as well. Overall, we are steadily transforming from a "trader" into an "industrial chain organizer."

Question: Given the complex and severe external environment, how can companies mitigate risks when expanding overseas?

In recent years, ITG has developed a robust risk prevention and control system. This includes a pre-project evaluation mechanism: all overseas projects undergo multi-faceted due diligence before launch, thoroughly assessing risks related to policy, law, community relations, environmental impact, and resource reserves. High-risk projects are strictly rejected. We have also assembled professional teams where legal, financial, and compliance matters are handled jointly by domestic and international experts, combining local intelligence with home-country regulatory requirements to create a dual-layer risk verification process. Furthermore, we ensure that our business layout is strategic, avoiding investments in sensitive or non-core sectors. Our focus remains on supply chain and logistics, which inherently reduces the probability of issues related to rights protection and policy conflicts.