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Slowing exports push business up or out

By Wang Lan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-01 09:50

Slowing exports in China is pushing many low-cost manufacturers out of business and forcing others to either merge or restructure.

Although the process may seem painful, especially at a time of tightening bank credit, economists and industry experts say it can help the economy achieve a more balanced, and therefore, more sustainable growth in the longer term.

"The slowdown in export growth may mount pressure on the industrial sector to expedite its restructuring, with more emphasis on quality and marketing," says Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce. This, he says, would represent a slow but significant shift in focus of China's massive industrial machine from exports to domestic sales.

"Of course, China could move toward a balanced economic growth without a slowdown in exports as well, but the process could take much longer," Mei adds.

Growth of merchandise exports in the first six months of this year dropped by 5.7 percentage points from a year earlier to 21.9 percent, latest trade figures show. Total imports of goods in the first half, by contrast, jumped 30.6 percent, up 12.4 percentage points from a year earlier, narrowing the nation's trade surplus by 11.8 percent to $111.9 billion.

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