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A Mirror to the Prospects of China's Foreign Trade
With the 88th China Export Commodities Fair concluded in Guangzhou City Thursday, the biannual event having held for 44 years and serving as a weathervane for China's foreign trade, has registered a record in both business deal and number of participants.
According to the latest figures from the organizing committee of the fair, over 105,000 business people from 174 countries and regions attended the fair; export contracts signed at the fair were worth 14.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 9.6 percent over the spring session in April.
"The strong turnout at the fair reflects China's overall growth in economic strength and its increasingly important role in international economic sector," said Sun Zhenyu. vice-minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC) and vice-director of the Organization Committee for the trade fair.
It signified that China's foreign trade has overcome the negative effects of Asia's financial crisis and jumped back onto a fast track of development, he said.
Chinese officials and economists take the outcome of the fair, especially the autumn session, as important data in their analysis of the trends in China's foreign trade, for the export value reached at the biannual fairs usually account for about one third of China's total exports in its general trade each year.
The century-end fair coincides with the final year of the country's Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000), the comprehensive strategy for national economic and social development, and the antecedent period to the country's accession into the World Trade Organization, noted economists.
The exciting results of the 88th fair are a bright beginning to the country's foreign trade in the new century.
The export fair has really established an international reputation of its own during the past four decades, said Wang Hui, director of the business department with the organizing committee.
The fair initiated in 1957 with only 1,223 overseas visitors at its first session, recalled Wang.
"It has been a long cherished hope for generations of Chinese foreign trade workers to see the event flourish," he said.
China's vigorous export growth has helped build up the international image of the trade fair. It, however, experienced a damaging blow in the second half of 1997, when the financial crisis plagued many Asian countries that were major export destinations for China.
China's momentous export growth was brought to a halt. The growth momentum did not pick up again until the end of June last year.
Shi Guangsheng, minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, said earlier this month that the recovery of the international economy and the increase in demand in commodity markets worldwide have created a favorable environment for China's exports.
A number of encouraging policies and measures issued by the Chinese government and put in place last year have also injected vigor into exports.
China's exports for the first nine months of this year (including the processing trade) totaled 182.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 33 percent from the same period of last year.
Hu Chusheng, spokesman for MOFTEC, said that the current growth of China's exports have outpaced the government estimate at the beginning of the year. The volume of China's foreign trade is likely to surpass the significant benchmark of 400 billion U.S. dollars this year.
Many overseas business people at the fair are eyeing the business potential brought by China's entry into the WTO.
"After China's WTO entry, the country will become more open, and we will see more Chinese products on international market, which means more choices for us," said Mustahally Rawjee, manager of Delta Trade Co. in South Africa.
Through China's latest efforts to adjust the export structure, new science and high technology will give a strong boost to exports. At this fair, machinery and electric products, accounted for 40 percent of exports.
Christopher Fathers, a procurement officer from the United Nations Development Program, said, after being exposed to many China-made commodities at the fair, that he found new exciting products everyday of his first visit to China.
Fathers was invited to give lectures to Chinese export agents on how to establish business relations with the procurement department of the UN.
The UN officer pointed out that China's WTO entry will bring both challenges and opportunities. He expects to see an even better performance by China's foreign trade in the new century.
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