China Names Top 500 Foreign Traders and Top 200 ExportersSinopec International turned out to be China's largest foreign trade company among the country's top 500, and the Shanghai-based Orient International (Holdings) Co. Ltd., the largest exporter among the country's top 200, according to an official chart.The chart was made public by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation on Monday in Beijing. Sinopec International's total import and export volume in 1999 reached 4.93 billion US dollars-worth, and Orient International (Holdings) Co. Ltd reported total exports of 1.776 billion US dollars-worth last year. Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd was the only foreign-invested company among the top 10 of both China's 500 largest foreign traders and 200 largest exporters. A total of 218 foreign-invested companies entered the top 500 chart for the first time. Foreign- invested companies were excluded from the chart in the past. According to the chart, China's other largest foreign traders include the China National Chemicals Import & Export Corp., China General Technology (Group) Holdings Co. Ltd., the China National Cereals, Oil & Foodstuffs Import & Export Group, the China National Electronics Import & Export Corp., the China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Corp. and the China National Petroleum Corporation. The total volume of foreign trade of the top 500 added up to 134.1 billion US dollars-worth in 1999, accounting for more than one third of China's total. The total export volume of the top 200 reached 52 billion US dollars-worth, accounting for more than one fourth of the country's total. China's total imports and exports totaled 360.7 billion US dollars-worth in 1999, up 11.3 percent from a year ago. Exports were worth 194.9 billion US dollars, up 6.1 percent, and imports were worth 165.8 billion US dollars, up 18.2 percent. |
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