China becoming bazaar for multinational buyers

China is turning into an attractive fair for multinational buyers, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants said in its latest report.

The Roland Berger report, claimed to be based on a survey of 32 multinationals, quoted US auto giant Ford as saying that its buying in China will top 10 billion US dollars in a few years.

GE expects 5 billion US dollars of buying in China in 2005 and also a sale of 5 billion US dollars, said Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman of the board and CEO of GE, cited by the report.

Low cost in such resources as labor and logistics makes China one of the world's most appealing suppliers and OEM bases, said the Roland Berger report.

The country has produced the world's most printers, PC mainboards, televisions, cellphones, microwave ovens, DVD machines,batteries and clothes as well as the world's fourth most cars.

Its export of printers, PC mainboards, televisions, cellphones,microwave ovens, DVD machines, batteries and clothes rank either the top or the top second in the world and the export of cars moves into the world's top ten.

China's advantage lies in not just resources that are low cost but quality that is fairly good, Zhu Wei, head of Roland Berger's China division, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

China now has 60 million people with a college degree and higher. Among 1.3 million diplomas granted in 2002, 460,000 majored in engineering and 190,000 in management.

In 2005, expressways in China will be 25,000 km long, up over 16,000 km in 2000, and it will have 800 depth berths for containerships while 27 billion euros are being used in updating the railway system.

Source: Xinhua