Center

EU sees huge opportunities for exports to China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-02-21 13:57

The study advised EU companies should be present in China to catch those opportunities.

EU companies wanting to compete on price in the Chinese economy will need to produce goods in China itself in order to be cost-competitive, the study said.

Actually, successful European companies are already diversifying into China-based manufacturing where they want to compete in China.

Many new European companies establishing production in China now are doing so not as an alternative to EU-based production but to compete in the Chinese market.

While acknowledging China's efforts to liberalize its economy, the study, however, raised some concerns with China over market access, urging China to do more in protecting intellectual property and removing non-tariffbarriers.

Chinese non-tariffbarriers cost EU operators no less than 21.4 billion euros a year in lost business opportunities, the study claimed.

The new study took a similar position as embodied in the new strategy for EU-China trade released by the European Commission in October 2006, which set out a wide-ranging new policy for building the EU's trade and investment relationship with China.

The strategy review argued that both China and Europe have benefited from China's economic rise, despite the competitive pressure it has exerted in the global economy. By pointing out the room for improvement, the strategy gave an overall encouraging picture of the Chinese market, which was said to be full of opportunities, but also with challenges.