Emirates SkyCargo, the airfreight division of Dubai-based Emirates Airline, is mulling further exploration of the China market and the landscapes covered by the Belt and Road Initiative, its executives said.

Being the center of global manufacturing, China is the largest cargo market outside of Dubai for the airline's cargo division, they said.

"I would say China is our largest cargo market outside of Dubai," said Jeffrey Robin van Haeften, senior vice-president of cargo commercial worldwide, Emirates SkyCargo.

"Dubai is a small part of the United Arab Emirates. We have 10 million citizens, 9 million expatriates, so it is not a high production market like Germany, China or Mexico. We really have to feed from other areas and that's coming mainly from China."

Emirates SkyCargo currently operates 43 cargo flights per week in China, apart from the 63 passenger flights to or from Chinese cities every week, and each can carry between 15 and 20 metric tons of cargo.

"Today, 20 percent of our network production comes from China. We carry about 2,000 tons of cargo per week into and out of China (the Chinese mainland).The China market is the factory of the world. We tend to carry anything which is high-tech, any general cargo manufactured in China that can be transported by air," said Ravishankar Mirle, vice-president of cargo commercial operations in Far East and Australasia at Emirates SkyCargo.

According to Mirle, more than 110,000 tons of cargo products were transported to or from the Chinese mainland in the financial year ended March 31. They included high-tech products, pharmaceuticals and fast fashion. E-commerce products saw the highest growth.

China's cross-border e-commerce trade rose 9.6 percent year-on-year to 577.6 billion yuan ($79.5 billion) in the first quarter of this year, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing data from the Ministry of Commerce.

In the first quarter, online retail sales in China reached 3.3 trillion yuan, up 12.4 percent year-on-year, with service consumption continuing to lead the growth, the ministry said.

The ministry's data also revealed that the country's e-commerce imports to, and exports from, Silk Road e-commerce partner countries such as Hungary, the UAE, Cambodia and Brazil, saw rapid growth.

As the first airliner in the Middle East to launch direct flights between the Middle East and the Chinese mainland, Emirates seeks more business opportunities from China and the BRI, Mirle said.

"As the cities in the BRI landscape mature and infrastructure development takes place, we see more movement of people, more movement of cargo between China and other BRI countries. I think this is going to be the next strategic step for Emirates to support the growth of trade and passenger movement into this region," Mirle said.

Van Haeften said: "China has long been a priority market for Emirates and our intent is to scale our operations to better serve both our passengers and cargo customers. We will continue to work with the authorities to expand our footprint and serve new destinations, generating new, reciprocal business opportunities to help strengthen global economies."