Employees work at a battery production facility in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

More aggressive efforts to expand in the overseas market and industrial upgrading have become the gold standard for enterprises in Zhejiang, a major hub for private economy and foreign trade in East China, to offset the impact of the trade dispute between China and the United States.

"We will never miss the whole forest just because of a tree," said Lei Bingnan, sales director for Asia-Pacific of Microvast Inc, citing an ancient Chinese proverb."Markets outside the US are definitely worth fighting for and the fact is these markets will bestow us with more benefits."

The company, a manufacturer specializing in the design, development and manufacture of fast charging, lithium-ion battery systems in Huzhou in northern Zhejiang, recently shipped its first cargo of battery sets to India. More orders are in the pipeline from markets such as Russia, South Korea, Australia and Kazakhstan, the company said.

Huzhou is a traditional foreign trade hub in Zhejiang. It is one of the cities that had been buffeted by the escalating China-US trade conflict since the US has been the city's largest export destination. Exports to the United States accounted for 25.1 percent of the city's total in the first half of this year.

Microvast is one of several local enterprises that are busy expanding to other emerging markets or looking at higher domestic consumption to cushion sluggish sales in the US.