(Yicai Global) Oct. 19 -- Chinese manufacturers have been applying for more patents in recent years, pertaining to both common and high-end products, and by relying on their own technologies and brands are beginning to claim a bigger share of overseas markets.

Ningbo Chuju Chufang Technology develops 70 percent of its products and the rest it makes as a foundry for international brands, founder and General Manager Zhang Guoping told Yicai Global. The company has applied for over 300 patents so far including 21 for invention and six under the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

The firm has strong advantages in grinding technology and its self-developed coffee grinders have become increasingly popular overseas due to the stay-at-home economy generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, Zhang said. Orders surged by more than 30 percent last year. One of its subsidiaries even received a takeover offer from a US firm but Zhang turned it down because he knows the firm will continue to grow, he added.

One way for companies to protect margins that are being squeezed by soaring raw material and freight prices is through innovative technologies, Zhang said. “It allows us to set the price at the sales end, and our clients won’t try to force down our prices.”

China filed the most international patent applications last year at 69,500, ranking first worldwide for the third straight year. And the country approved 696,000 patents for invention in 2021, Shen Changyu, commissioner of the China National Intellectual Property Administration, said in April. This raised the number of high value invention patents per 10,000 people to 7.5 from 6.3 the previous year.

Ningbo Paulinda Import & Export, a children educational toy maker, used to mostly sell its products overseas before the pandemic but has now started to sell in China too, General Manager Wei Guowen said. She is not worried about losing clients to other companies as most of her customers are loyal.

The firm’s self-created doll Xiaoyi landed an annual order of intent worth nearly USD10 million in July, Wei said. She went with a team to Europe last month for the second time to visit existing clients and drum up new ones.

Song dynasty brocade maker Suzhou Shangjiukai Silk Technology & Culture is experiencing booming sales both at home and abroad because it always tries to bring in new materials and use new techniques to make its silk products better, Chair Wu Jianhua said.

Shangjiukai used to export more than it sold in the Chinese market before the novel coronavirus, but now it is the other way round, Wu said. The firm is very aware of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and has applied to copyright between 400 and 500 items.

Coffee machine maker Hibrew charges more for its products than international brands as it uses its own patented refining technology, founder Zeng Qiuping told Yicai Global.

Small tool manufacturer Hoto Tools’ prices are about 20 percent higher than those of its overseas peers, but sales are growing steadily because the firm owns 31 patents, said Xu Jialin, head of the firm’s global marketing. By improving products’ design and function, the brand is becoming more popular with young foreign users.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor