A trade delegation from war-torn Iraq came to China Monday for the first time with a US$1-billion shopping list - and there was no shortage of potential suppliers.

Abdul Hafiz, chairman of the Basra Business Centre affiliated to the Iraqi chamber of commerce, told China Daily that their spending could be even higher depending on the products on offer at a trade expo which opened Monday.

The US$1-billion figure is a huge jump from the US$420 million China exported to Iraq for the whole of 2002 - when the United States invaded the country.

"We like Chinese goods. They are inexpensive but rather good in quality," he said at the three-day 2005 Global Sourcing Fair Shanghai.

The delegation he is leading comprises not only Iraqi businesses but also companies from neighbouring Jordan and Iran - they are interested in a great variety of goods from construction materials and electrical products, to energy equipment.

Currently, about 20 per cent of Iraqi imports are from China - and, once the situation in the country stabilizes, Hafiz expects demand to double with a corresponding rise in Chinese imports.

Trade teams from Iraq earlier visited the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea and Singapore.

Tom Tang, a senior consultant for the Middle East region of the Shanghai International Merchandising Centre Co Ltd, a government-backed trade platform, said there had been great interest in Chinese products in the Middle East after the setting up of an office in Jordan.

The Iraqi stand, covering about 40 square metres in Shanghai Mart, was thronged by suppliers from all over the country, each thrusting brochures at buyers or making sales pitches through interpreters.

It is estimated multinationals will buy over US$60 billion worth of goods in China this year, US$18 billion of which will be from Shanghai.

Source: China Daily