China's Machinery, Electronics Exports Face Uphill Battle

BEIJING, August 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese machinery and electronics exporters face an uphill battle in achieving a high growth rate, the English language newspaper China Daily's Business Weekly reported Sunday.

In the first half of this year, China's exports of machinery and electronic products increased by 2.99 billion US dollars or 9.9 percent from the same period of last year to 33.3 billion US dollars, according to Chinese customs statistics.

A trade official pointed out it will be more difficult for China to augment its exports of machinery and electronic products. He listed some major negative factors such as rising trade protectionism in some countries, more fierce competition from rivals of other countries and undercutting practices among some Chinese exporters.

China has raised export rebates to 17 percent on four major kinds of machinery and electronic exports, accounting for 80 percent of machinery and electronics exports each year, the paper said, adding that the higher rebate rates are expected to reduce export costs and encourage Chinese exporters to sell more such products abroad.

Meanwhile, the government also gave rebates to exports of equipment and raw materials and granted foreign trade rights and international engineering contracting rights to those domestic enterprises who plan to invest overseas to make it a new growth sector for Chinese exporters, the paper said.