Chinese electronic home appliance giant Haier Group, with a value of 48.9 billion yuan (US$5.91 billion), was ranked the most valuable Chinese brand in an annual report released Tuesday.

Last year, the Beijing Famous-Brand Evaluation Co., Ltd ranked Haier second in its annual report, with its value at 43.6 billion yuan (US$5.28 billion), and Hongta Tobacco (Group) Co., Ltd., valued at 46 billion yuan (US$5.57 billion), ranked first.

The report attributed Haier's first-place ranking to the opening-up and introduction of market competition in the whole electric home appliance industry.

The value of Haier's brand has soared by 52 percent annually in the past eight years, the report said.

The average market volume of each of 20 major Chinese brands the company has studied for years had increased from 2.85 billion yuan (US$345 million) in 1994 to 13.63 billion (US$1.65 billion) last year, an annual average growth of 25.1 percent.

The report said well-known Chinese brands are overtaking foreign counterparts as leaders in some industries in China and they will have a promising future due to the country's booming economy.

The 33 companies listed by the report this year had invested in or merged with more than 730 companies and the value of the brand was a key factor in the active capital movement.

There are four brands with the value worth less than 600 million yuan (US$72.6 million) but taking up half of the market share in their own fields, which showed companies providing specialized services still have chance to create new brands and take over the vacancy left by big brands, the report said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 4, 2002)