China publishes its top 200 exporters and 500 traders

China's Ministry of Commerce published on May 27 an enterprise name list of largest export and import volume in 2003. China Petrochemical Int'l Co., Ltd (SINOPEC INT'L) (whole-year import/export value US$15.887 billion) and Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd (whole-year export value US$ 6.42 billion) topped the list of biggest 500 importers/exports and 200 exporters respectively.

This is the 14th year since the Ministry began to publish the list in 1990. China's import/export scale reached $851.21 billion last year, up 37.1 percent over the previous year. Meanwhile, the country's foreign trade enterprises grew bigger in scale and strength. The top 200 exporters published this time achieved a total export volume worth $135.58 billion, 41 percent higher than the previous year and making up 30.9 percent of the nation's total; while the top 500 import/export companies scored a volume worth $360.61 billion, 40.1 percent up and accounting for 42.4 percent of nation's total.

The ranking this time displayed two features. Firstly, the standards for entering the list and the average scale of enterprises are raised much higher. The minimum standard for the top 200 was raised from $171.71 million previous year to $231.12 million, and the average export scale lifted from $480.88 million to 677.89 million.

Average exports of the 200 largest exporters rose to US$677.9 million in 2003 from US$480.88 million in the previous year, while average trade volume of the 500 biggest foreign traders climbed to US$721.22 million to US$514.3 million.

The lowest company making the list of top 200 exporters reached exports of US$231.12 million last year, compared to the US$171.7 million on the previous list. The bottom line for the 500 largest foreign traders was US$191.37 million, up from the US$141.8 million in 2002.

Secondly, many companies in the fields of electronics, mechanics and high-technology were new entries on the list, or had significantly moved up in ranking. These sectors make up over half of the 200 largest Chinese exporters and just under half of the nation's 500 largest traders.

Thirdly, more foreign-invested companies also appeared on the list as the country relaxed its controls on the import-export business in line with its promises to the World Trade Organization.

Some 99 of the 200 largest exporters were foreign-backed, compared to 87 in 2002. Foreign-invested companies accounted for 49.5 percent of the top 200 exporters, while State-owned enterprises represented 35.5 percent.

For the list involving the 500 largest import-export traders, foreign-funded companies accounted for 54 per cent compared to 31 per cent of the State-owned companies. Ministry officials said the State-owned companies, which used to monopolize the nation's trading rights, saw their shares dropping during the fierce competition.

Lastly, most of the companies on the list are still located or headquartered in China's coastal areas. The 200 largest exporters include 163 firms in the east of the country. Among the 500 largest foreign traders, 414 are in the east. Both parent companies and their majority holdings are taken into account when computing their imports and exports.

China's top 10 import-export traders

1.Sinopec International Co Ltd

2.Shenzhen Hongfujin Precision Industry Co Ltd

3.Shanghai Dafeng Computer Co Ltd

4.Sinochem

5.AsusTeK Computer Co Ltd

6.China Minerals & Metals Group

7.Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd

8.PetroChina

9.Orient International (Holding) Co Ltd

10.Nokia (China) Investment Co Ltd

By People's Daily Online