Chinese Exporters Eye New Markets

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 06, 2002

Chinese Exporters Eye New Markets

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More than 200 visitors from countries in the Middle East have visited the fair since it opened last Friday, according to figures released by the organizing committee of the East China Export and Import Commodity Fair.

Zha Yun, a representative from a Shanghai-based textile trading company, saw an Arabic business card for the first time at the fair when it was presented by a Saudi customer who has a strong interest in textiles.

He told Xinhua that customers from Lebanon, Egypt and as well as other countries have asked the company for quotations.

Zha's company came to this year's fair hoping to tap into a wider international market, as orders from its traditional importer Japan have decreased with the weakening of the yen.

The annual fair has had an increasing number of visitors from emerging markets in Africa, East Europe and Central Asia.

At last year's China Export Commodity Fair held in Guangzhou,

demand from traditional markets involving the United States and the European Union shrank, while China's exports to Africa, Latin America and the Middle East rose by 10 to 30 percent.

China lowered the benchmark for local businesses exporting their products last year, enabling local traders to enter the world market.

Domestic businesses have moved to expand sales overseas after the Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said earlier this year that China should tap new markets such as Russia, India, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, while continuing to target traditional markets.

"These new markets are becoming mature and have great potential, " said Cao Xinyu, vice-president of the chamber of commerce for the import and export of textiles.

A dozen Shanghai-based businesses, having been given the greenlight recently for foreign trading, are planning to hold trade fairs in East Europe, said sources attending the east China fair.

Manufacturing enterprises have fine-tuned their product lines to meet new market demands. A garment factory in Anhui Province, once the sole uniform manufacturer for a Japanese firm, has found new markets in Europe and south America for a new product series, including jeans and other casual wear. An Egyptian customer has also intends to place an order with the factory before the fair finishes.

More local businesses are studying the international markets nowadays, said Hua Qimei, a journalist with the International Market magazine. "The information we provide on emerging markets is particularly popular among the readers," she said.

On the other hand, the China Export Credit Insurance Corporation (CECIC) has received an increasing number of local exporters who are interested in tapping new markets but are being extremely cautious in decision-making.

"New markets such as Argentina and Afghanistan offer opportunities but are risky as well," said Chen Jianguo, an account manager with CECIC.

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