Huang Hai, assistant to the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, said at the Third China Department Store Summit that according to statistics on foreign-invested companies in some cities Shanghai took the lead in 2004. Foreign-invested companies there accounted for 13.5 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods while the figure in other cities were all below 10 percent. Judging from the volume foreign-invested companies had taken up no too high share in the Chinese market.

When analyzing the overall situation of the trade industry Huang Hai said Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Qingdao and Wuhan are six comparatively commercially developed cities in China. They are also at the forefront of opening up. Foreign investment accounts for 17 percent of large trading facilities of 5,000 to 8,000 square meters in these six cities.

However, foreign-invested firms' share in large stores of over 8,000 square meters is much higher and reaches 32 percent. In Shanghai, which is also the highest in this respect, the number exceeds 40 percent and in Beijing it reaches 37 percent. Sample surveys show that in large stores of 10,000 square meters the potential sales of foreign investment is two to three times that of Chinese firms.

China's trade industry has entered a phase of rather complete opening up since last December 11. China has canceled all limitations on regions, quantity and share of foreign investment except for a few key commodities.

By People's Daily Online