Chinese-made Goods Attract Foreigners at Fair

Attracted by colorful chinaware, Sri Lankan businessman A. Kiritharan was reluctant to leave when he came to an exhibition booth at the ongoing East China Imports and Exports Trade Fair here, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Carefully studying the goods made by Universe Chinaware Industry Co. of Jingdezhen in east China's Jiangxi Province, Kiritharan said the quality of this porcelain was really good and Sri Lankan people used to enjoy Chinese glazed ware.

Ordering four containers of chinaware from the Universe company,he said these products would find a good market in Sri Lanka, as people in his country are fond of porcelain.

The trade fair, which opened Sunday, has attracted more than 3,200 overseas businessmen who have signed a total of 107 million U.S. dollars worth of contracts with exhibitors.

Universe's vice president Huang Jian said that as China steps up efforts to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO), the age-old porcelain industry is confronted with both opportunities and challenges. Though China's porcelain will then enter the foreign market, foreign products will at the same time flood the Chinese market.

He said the goods displayed by his company, a state-owned enterprise with more than 1,600 employees, comply with world environmental and sanitary standards and are targeted at the international market.

The trade fair is hosted by six east China provinces and Shanghai, China's largest industrial and commercial center. Last year, the import and export volume of the region amounted to 128.04 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 35.5 percent of the country's total. East China, consisting of Shanghai and Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, is one of the country's most developed region featured by export-oriented economy.

Xu Fuyong, director of the planning center at the Ningbo Weike Group in east China's Zhejiang Province, said companies should manufacture goods tailored to the needs of foreigners.

Two year's ago, his company imported 270 pieces of state-of-the-art textiles machinery with 100 million yuan (about 12 million U.S.dollars) to produce quality cotton blankets and jacquards. Last year, exports of these new products earned the company 80 million U.S. dollars, or eighty percent of its total exports.

"If we cling to traditional products, few foreign businesses would have visited us," he told Xinhua.

Peter Lin, a Japanese businessman of Chinese origin, said neckties made in China are as good as Italy's, both in quality andin style, and are much lower priced.

Lin said he has been importing ties from China for five straight years.

"It's good for China to join WTO, as competition from foreign companies will enable Chinese enterprises to improve their management and produce more beautiful goods of international standards," Lin said, adding that he believes trade prospect for Chinese goods are rosy.

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