Foreign Quality Standards Largest Obstacle to China's Export Development

Home>>Opinion

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Foreign Quality Standards Largest Obstacle to China's Export Development

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Quality standards in foreign countries have become the largest obstacle to China's export development, said Wang Hui, director of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Commerce on Monday.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Commerce, Wang said 71 percent of exporting companies, 39 percent exporting Chinese products last year, were restricted by quality standards in foreign countries, which lead to a loss of 17 billion US dollars, equal to 5.2 percent of the total exporting volume. This meant an increase of 5 percent, 14 percent, 6 billion US dollars and 0.7 percent respectively compared to figures for 2000,Wang said.

The survey covered six import and export industries and 21 export products, he said.

The survey showed every province suffered from losses caused by quality barriers, especially for the developed areas, with Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Shanghai all losing over 1 billion US dollars.

The loss for cities and provinces in the Western region was higher than that of the developed cities and provinces, with Guangxi over 12 percent and Yunnan, Tibet, Hubei, Jiangxi all over10 percent.

Most products of labor-intensive export industries had suffered losses amounting to 9 billion US dollars. The influence of quality barriers on high-tech and machinery products had increased, especially for products of the light industry and machinery industry, with losses of 4 billion and 2 billion US dollars respectively.

Losses of China's exporting companies resulting from quality barriers in Europe, the United States and Japan accounted for 95 percent of their total loss.

The survey revealed that Chinese companies had taken steps to address the problem, but still faced many difficulties. Many companies said a lack of coordination between different stages of the production and export chain had resulted in unstable quality of some products.

Wang Hui said complicated foreign technical barriers with their far-reaching influence had become the largest obstacle to China's export development.

Most of the barriers were not against the rules of the World Trade Organization, he said, stressing that the barriers were difficult to break through and Chinese companies needed to improve their competitive advantage to overcome the problem.

The Ministry of Commerce will also make efforts to help the Chinese companies to improve their ability to cope with technical barriers of the foreign countries, Wang said.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Coastal Province Reports One Third of China's Seafood Exports

Private Export Businesses Booming in East China's Shanghai

Guangdong Sees Slower Export Growth due to SARS

Efforts Urged to Frame China's Long-time Plan on Science,Technology ( 7 Messages)

Global Warming Troubles Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction ( 7 Messages)

US Planning Historic Shift of Military Power Abroad: Report ( 26 Messages)

'Haven't got lost!': China's 1st SARS Patient out of Shadow ( 3 Messages)

Hu, Bush Pledge to Further Develop Constructive Ties of Cooperation ( 6 Messages)

G8 Meeting Urged to Highlight Water Issue in Africa ( 9 Messages)