China looks at emerging markets to compensate for US, EU downturn

With exports on a downturn due to the economic crisis battering major markets in the US and EU, China has said it will turn to developing countries to sustain its foreign trade-dependent economic growth.

China will look to export more to developing countries because demand from developed nations is unlikely to improve, Wang Shouwen, the Head of the Foreign Trade Department of China's Ministry of Commerce, said while releasing a white paper on China's global trade.

Wang said China will face "severe challenges" next year as demand from Europe and the US, its No. 1 and 2 export markets, will not significantly recover and domestic production costs will continue to rise.

The country's export growth has slowed in the past two months due to weakening international demand.

Rising labour costs, appreciation of the yuan and more expensive raw materials have also been hurting the country's exporters.

China will also quicken the pace of readjusting its foreign trade structure, support brand-building, research and development and create more sales channels for companies, he said.

"With these efforts, we believe China's exports will register good growth next year," Wang said. China is already doing well in terms of exports to developing countries, especially India.

The 35-page white paper detailed how billions of dollars of exports have changed the face of China in the past three decades, propelling it to the status of the world's second-largest economy after the US.

The total value of China's imports and exports reached USD 2.97 trillion in 2010, 144 times more than in 1978, when China initiated its reform and opening up policy, translating into an average annual growth of 16.8 per cent, according to the white paper.

"The past decade has witnessed the proportion of China's trade volume in the world's total rise from 4.3 per cent to 10.4

per cent," Chong Quan, the deputy representative for China's international trade talks and former assistant to the minister of commerce, said.

Chong said the country's imports would reach USD 8 trillion in the next five years, as per estimates of the Commerce Ministry.

Fast-growing foreign trade has not only bolstered China's economic growth, but also contributed to the world economy. Over the past decade, China's gross domestic product has risen to become the second-largest in the world, with an average annual growth of 11 per cent, Chong said.

Meanwhile, the country's imports averaged USD 750 billion annually during the past 10 years, creating more than 14 million jobs for its trading partners, Chong said, adding that the country had made prominent contributions to the global economic recovery.

In addition, he pointed out that China has been the largest export market for least developed countries since 2008.

The white paper said by July, 2010, China had granted zero-tariff treatment on over 4,700 commodities from 36 least developed countries that have diplomatic ties with China.

Zero-tariff commodities accounted for 60 per cent of total imports from those countries. The paper also said China will make new adjustments to change the focus of foreign trade from scale expansion to quality and profit improvement and from reliance on low-cost advantages to enhancement of its comprehensive competitiveness.

Intellectual property protection and product quality are among two other pressing issues the government will seek to address in its pursuit of sustainable growth.

China will have to make "arduous efforts" over a relatively longer period of time to transform into a major trade country in terms of competitiveness, the paper said.