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Chinese garment exporter recollects hard experience in 2008 (2) |
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16:32, January 04, 2009 |
"In the beginning of 2008, I received fewer orders from the United States and Australia," said Zheng. But the situation was unclear at that time, because Zheng's orders from Europe, Middle East and South Asia remained to increase about 10 percent.
The grim situation became apparent in the order-placing meeting in March, for goods delivered in autumn. "My orders from the United States and Australia dropped 70 percent. European buyers did not show up as scheduled. They came in April, with orders cut by half. I managed to keep orders unchanged for Middle East and South Asian buyers," said Zheng.
The situation turned worse in the May order-placing meeting, for winter delivery. "Only a few clients from the United States and Australia came, without any orders. They told me not to invite them in 2009, as they will not come up," said Zheng. His orders from EU shrank to 20 percent of previous sizes. And orders dropped from Middle East and South Asia.
Zheng's story was duplicated nationwide. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, after months of decline, China's export decreased 2.2 percent in November, the first time in the past seven years.
Anyway, China managed to maintain a steady growth in foreign trade in 2008, against pressures from serious natural disasters and the worst global financial crisis over the past 100 years.
Commerce Minister Chen Deming estimated China's imports and exports would surpass 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars for 2008, up about18 percent over the previous year, despite the downturn in foreign demand during the second half. Though the country's exports to European, U.S. and Japanese markets grew much slower, its sales to emerging markets, such as India and Brazil, went up rapidly, said Chen Deming.
INDUSTRIAL TRANSFORMATION
To escape the jaws of crisis, increasingly more frustrated Chinese exporters set out to tap the domestic market.
But it proved a hard path for most exporting businesses to set eye on the domestic market, as they ran short of marketing channels, goods designed for domestic markets, and proper account settlement mechanism.
Zheng proved much luckier than most counterparts, as he had a way of escape. To prevent risks and expand sales, he set foot in the domestic market in 2005, despite the fact that the domestic market was small compared to his export business.
Since July, 2008, Zheng started to prioritize his company's strategy by more vigorously exploring the domestic market.
Zheng estimated his company would have sales values dropping by 20 percent in 2008 from the previous year. "This would be a pretty good result, as we duly changed from export to domestic sales," said Zheng.
About 70 percent of his company's sales would come from domestic sales, and 30 percent from exports in 2008. This was just opposite the performance in 2007.
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