Delivered by Mr. Xubing
Vice Secretary General and Spokesman of the CECF
(Oct. 30, 2004)
Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning!
On this occasion when the 96 th Session of Chinese Export Commodities Fair is concluding, I would like, on the behalf of the Fair’s News Center, to express our sincere thanks to all of you. Now please allow me to deliver an introduction to this session of the CECF.
The session of the CECF is a grand meeting held in the 55 th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and in the new situation that the total amount of our country’s import and export is about to breakthrough USD1000 billion to which the Ministry of Commerce has given close attention. Thanks to the strong leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and the joint efforts of trading delegations, import and export chambers of commerce, China Foreign Trade Center and all the participants, this session of the CECF has been operated smoothly and safely, and has seen a new historical high in attendance of overseas buyers and volume of business.
Firstly, overseas buyers attend enthusiastically, and the number reaches a historical high.
Up to 167,926 overseas buyers from 203 countries and regions attend this session of the CECF, increasing by 5.8% over the last session and by 11.6% over the 94 th CECF, which has set a new record in history. The top five countries and regions in terms of participating buyers are Hong Kong, USA, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand, whose numbers of buyers are respectively 32,646, 11,528, 10,453, 6,414, and 5,636.
The structure of buyers is marked by the following characteristics: the first is that the number of Asian buyers attending the fair is still the highest of all, amounting to 101, 054 persons, but the percentage decreases slightly, accounting for 60.2%, and decreasing by 5.5% over the last session; the second is that the number of European and American buyers increases significantly, among whom there are 31640 European buyers and 11526 American buyers, increasing by 33.8% and by 2.2% over the last session respectively; the third is that the number of new buyers rises rapidly. While the number of old buyers maintains a stable growth, the number of new buyers attending the fair reaches 78,635, taking up 46% of the total; the forth is that the number of high-quality buyers increases considerably. This session of the CECF strengthens the work of inviting international chain procurement groups, and continues to offer VIP services to large international buyers by establishing the fixed procurement areas, etc. Among the top 200 world retailers, 69 companies attend this session of the CECF. Six multinational procurement groups such as French Carrefour and Leroy Merlin, British TESCO, German OBI, U.S. QVC and Central Purchasing Inc. participate in the fixed procurement, and 3285 participants in the fair make a reservation for negotiation, which indicates an increase on a larger scale than the last session.
Secondly, the turnover of export is in a gratifying situation, and shows a clear tendency to increase.
The total turnover of this session’s two phases reaches USD27.2 billion, increasing by 11% over the last session, and rising by 32.8% over the 94 th CECF.
Judging from the transaction made at the fair, machinery and electronic products still take up the highest percentage of all. The trade volume of these products is up to USD10.82 billion, increasing by 13.4% over the last session, accounting for 39.8% of the total. Among these products, those that have a large trade volume are home appliances and consumer electronic products, metal products, electronic and electrical products and transportation vehicles. Footwear and daily-use ceramics increase rapidly. The trade volume of footwear reaches USD 810 million, increasing by 33.8% over the last session; the trade volume of daily-use ceramics is up to USD 700 million, increasing by 36.5% over the last session. Other products that have a comparatively large growth rate include: decoration products which reach USD 530 million, increasing by 16.3% over the last session; glassware which reach USD 440 million, rising by 19%; metal and enamel ware reach USD 330 million, increasing by 0.5%, accounting for 8%. The trade volume of exports for clothes and textiles equals to that of the last session, among which the trade volume of clothes reaches USD2.86 billion, decreasing by 0.1% over the last session, accounting for 10.5%; the trade volume of textiles is up to USD2.19 billion, increasing by 0.5%, accounting for 8%.
Among the 48 trading delegations, Guangdong Trading Delegation is still in the first place in terms of trade volume, with its turnover reaching USD3.07 billion and increasing by 9.3% over the last session. Other delegations having a large trade volume are: the special economic zones (including the four cities and a province, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Xiamen, Shantou, and Hainan) which have a trade volume of USD2.78 billion, increasing by 16.7% over the last session; Jiangshu USD2.46 billion, increasing by 9.5%; Zhejiang USD1.72 billion, rising by 14.2%; Shanghai USD16.5 billion, increasing by 7.8%.
Judging from the major trading countries (regions), the trade volume to EU, USA and Japan shows a tendency to grow rapidly. The trade volume to EU reaches USD9.19 billion, increasing by 19.9% over the last session, accounting for one third of the total; the trade volume to USA reaches USD4.71 billion, increasing by 10.2%, taking up 17.3%; the trade volume to Japan reaches USD1.46 billion, increasing by 18.2%, accounting for 5.4%. But the trade volume to some Asian markets has decreased to some extent, among which the trade volume to the Middle-east Asia is USD2.78 billion, decreasing by 1.2% over the last session; the trade volume to the ASEAN market is USD1.43 billion, decreasing by 0.7%; the trade volume to Hong Kong is USD 980 million, decreasing by 10.5%.
Judging from the different nature of enterprises, the turnover gained by state-owned enterprises reaches USD14.1 billion, accounting for 51.8% of the total, and decreasing by 10.6% over the last session; the turnover gained by privates firms reaches USD6.85 billion, accounting for one forth of the total, and increasing by 40.7% over the last session; the turnover gained by foreign investment enterprises reaches USD3.18 billion, increasing by 43.7%, and taking up over 10% for the first time.
In terms of the application of e-commerce, the total visiting number of three websites, namely Canton Fair Online, CECF Online and CHINANET, reaches 79,960,000, increasing by 5.2% over the last session, among which the number of overseas visitors reaches 24,280,000, accounting for 30.4% of the total. The total trade volume of online intent contracts reaches USD 319 million, which increases by 7.4% over the last session.
Thirdly, the Fair keeps promoting the branding strategy, and brand product zones continue to attract wide attention.
In order to implement the branding strategy in exportation and to establish a new image for China’s clothing brands, the Ministry of Commerce has organized a series of activities such as "China Apparel Brand names Exhibition & Fashion Show", and achieved a very good result. The Ministry of Commerce has also held "Symposiums of Establishing Famous Export Brands" participated by the import & export chambers of commerce, the local trading delegations as well as parts of the famous-brand enterprises, which plays a powerful role in pushing forward the implementation of export branding strategies.
On the basis of establishing brand product zones at the 95 th CECF, this session of the CECF has further expanded the brand product zones. 320 enterprises respectively set up 2047 exhibition stands in 24 brand product zones such as garments, textiles, home electrical appliances, etc. The total trade volume in these brand product zones reaches USD5.25 billion, increasing by 18.4% over the last time. Although the quantity of exhibition booths in the brand product zones only takes up 7.4% of the total, yet the total trade volume in these zones accounts for 19.3% of the total, increasing by 1.2% over the last session.
Fourthly, the Fair strengthens the management of exhibition booths, regulates the order of trading, and builds a sound environment for trade and negotiation.
The Ministry of Commerce always attaches great importance to the management of exhibition booths in the CECF. Considering the fact that there is an increase in the number of participating enterprises and exhibition booths at this session of the CECF, the fair has revised the Administrative Regulations on the Use of Exhibition Booths at the CECF, and taken a series of effective measures, mainly including clarifying the responsibility of management to initiate a system of ascertaining where the responsibility lies; breaking the old rule of lifelong qualifications for participants in order to make dynamic adjustments to the exhibition stands; perfecting the system of using the authentic names of participants; strengthening the work of supervision, investigation and punishment on the spot; publicizing the results of allocating the exhibition stands so as to receive the social supervision.
Prior to the conclusion of this session of the CECF, the fair exposes a number of intermediaries from behind the scenes, who have specialized in speculating the exhibition booths illegally. During the period of exhibition, the fair has made a series of comprehensive examinations on the exhibition booths by means of sampling, accepting and hearing complaints, etc. After verifying and checking the situation, the fair disciplines 15 enterprises which have illegally used the exhibition booths, and closes and clears 20 exhibition booths.
Fifthly, the Fair continues to improve and upgrade the quality of management and service.
This session of the CECF keeps strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights. 468 enterprises are ultimately recognized to have violated others’ lawful rights, among which there are 312 enterprises violating others’ patents, 142 enterprises violating others’ trade marks, and 14 enterprises violating others’ copyrights.
This session of the CECF receives 55 overseas delegations and 24 domestic delegations at the provincial level. But the reception work has been conducted in an orderly way. We strengthen the work of registration for buyers at the registration spots in 18 hotels, and specially prepare the Consumption Instructions for buyers. And these have been welcome by buyers.
In order to assure a safe and smooth operation, the fair has always taken security protection and hygiene prevention as its primary work, which has been carefully planned and organized. During the period of exhibition, the general order of security and transportation remains very good inside and outside the exhibition halls and in the nearby areas. No serious cases of infectious disease and poisoned food have been reported.
The 96 th session of the CECF has successfully concluded. We will keep on making progress in line with our era, and continue to innovate and reform in order to turn the CECF into a world-first-class modernized fair, to provide the best service for our country’s export products to enter the world market, and to make greater contributions to our country’s foreign trade development.