Magazines Archives - 2011 Jan

China-ASEAN trade set to expand with China Sourcing Fair’s Singapore debut
Story 5 - Review

OVER 7,300 buyers from 47 countries and regions turned up at the inaugural Singapore edition of Global Sources’ China Sourcing Fair 2010. Held at Suntec Singapore, the show was said to leverage the city-state’s reputed ‘hub’ image and infrastructure to boost trade relations between China and ASEAN.

Dubbed as a great opportunity for both Chinese suppliers and buyers in the ASEAN region, the fair, which ran from November 22-24 last year, hosted six speciality shows featuring product categories that ranged from F&B to home products, gifts and premiums, garments and textiles, hardware and building, and auto parts and accessories.

Citing the recent free trade agreements that removed taxes on thousands of product categories from China to ASEAN, Global Sources’ chairman and CEO, Merle A Hinrichs, stated that trade between China and ASEAN surged by 50% over the first nine months of last year. “The total export value from China to ASEAN between January and October [last year] reached US$111 billion. China has now emerged as ASEAN’s largest trading partner,” he pointed out at the event’s opening ceremony.

Hinrichs continued that bringing the show to Singapore reasserted the city-state’s trading and financial hub status, which made it “perfectly positioned as a springboard for rapidly growing business opportunities” across the ASEAN region.

“We see this as an unprecedented opportunity to help Greater China suppliers tap the huge ASEAN market of approximately 600 million people, which in GDP terms is the third-biggest economy in Asia,” he maintained, adding that the fair aimed to provide a platform to assist suppliers from Greater China and India to “develop trade with buyers operating in ASEAN”.

According to the organiser, China is also set to achieve its goal of US$500 billion in China-ASEAN trade by 2015, which will “further enhance relations” between both parties. Additionally, projections by the World Bank revealed a 13-fold increase in middle-class c o n s u m e r s across the region, representing the “tremendous potential for trade expansion in ASEAN”, Global Sources reiterated.

“China has eme r g e d a s ASEAN’s largest trading partner. Launching the China Sourcing Fair in strategically positioned Singapore, the world’s second-largest entrepot after Hong Kong, will help suppliers from Greater China explore ASEAN markets more efficiently,” said Tommy Wong, president of Global Sources Exhibitions.

Eager to tap into the region’s potential, exhibitors spanned the show floor with close to 600 booths, featuring highquality products and designs from over 500 suppliers from China. In spite of the show’s focus on enhancing Chinese and ASEAN trade relations, suppliers from other parts of the region, namely South Korea, the Philippines and India were also invited to participate at the show. The China Sourcing Fair also saw the introduction of the India Sourcing Fair into the organiser’s portfolio, which showcased a selection of products from India.

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