The Korea Exchange (KRX) expects its first listing of a Chinese company in March 2007, Young-Tak Lee, chief executive officer of the KRX, has said.

The company is said to specialize in manufacturing and has been listed on the Hong Kong stock market, but he gave no further details.

A Beijing-based law office managing Korean listings said 13 companies had signed underwriting contracts with brokers of the Republic of Korea, and two would submit listing applications to the KRX by the end of the year.

The main businesses of these companies were textiles, information technology, coal-mining, chemicals and fertilizer.

About 10 to 20 Chinese firms are to go public next year on the Korean market, according to the KRX.

Chinese firms can benefit from low listing costs and the active Korean market, sector insiders said.

The KRX was a good alternative for Chinese companies to list overseas as the two countries had similar industrial structures and booming trade and economic cooperation, said a KRX official.

In 2005, the volume of trade between China and the Republic of Korea topped 100 billion dollars for the first time. The ROK is China's sixth largest trading partner, while China is the ROK's largest trading partner.

Source: Xinhua