E-commerce offering exporters haven amid economic troubles

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E-commerce has played an increasingly important role for Chinese exporters in maintaining business growth, said an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

Trade through electronic platforms in China grew from 1.5 trillion yuan ($240 billion) in 2006 to 5.9 trillion yuan in 2011, according to Nie Linhai, deputy commercial counselor of the ministry's Department of Electronic Commerce and Informatization.

"In the current global economic situation, e-commerce trade will help reduce costs for Chinese manufacturers. And a growing number of domestic exporters have realized the importance of doing trade through electronic platforms," Nie said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of an e-commerce forum on Tuesday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, Nie said the outlook for China's exports is still over shadowed by the global economic downturn.

"The decreasing demand from traditional overseas buyers, combined with rising challenges from neighboring manufacturing countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, have forced domestic exporters to look for new modes of trade," Nie said.

The country's foreign trade, which rose by 5.8 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months of this year, outperformed major developed and emerging economies, according to Nie.

"Chinese exporters are encouraged to conduct more international trade through e-commerce platforms, which has proved an efficient international practice," Nie added.

On Tuesday, six third-party e-commerce companies signed strategic partnership agreements with the department of foreign trade and economic cooperation of Guangdong - which contributes about one-fourth of China's foreign trade - to help local exporters find business opportunities through e-commerce platforms.

Meanwhile, e-commerce companies have vowed to issue more efficient measures to help Chinese exporters clinch orders with overseas buyers.

Cai Hongyu, deputy general manager of Made-in-China.com, a Nanjing-based third-party e-commerce company, said online trade has become an efficient way for Guangdong-based high-tech companies to maintain stable growth.

Exports of Guangdong's high-tech products reached $154 billion in the first three quarters this year, up 6.8 percent compared from the same period last year, according to customs.

"A growing number of hi-tech companies in Guangdong have become our clients. And we believe that products with high added value will be popular in online trading," he said.

The company has established seven branches in Guangdong to help exporters in the Pearl River Delta conduct online trade with overseas buyers.

Wei Qiang, general manager of Shenzhen OneTouch Business Service, said Chinese exporters should shift trading from older to e-commerce models.

"They should rely more on finance and logistics services provided by third-party e-commerce providers to sustain export growth, especially amid the current slowing demand from global buyers," Wei told China Daily.

At present, more than 90 percent of Chinese exporters prefer cash delivery, while more than 75 percent of foreign trade is based on payment by credit, according to Wei.

"The traditional models will hurt Chinese exporters. As one of the third-party e-commerce providers, we will issue more financial and logistic services for domestic producers, which we believe will enable them to conduct trade in international practice," he said.

China produces some 53 percent of products in the world. But the country only provides 5 percent of supporting services in global trade, according to Wei.

The company has about 10,000 users, of which up to 80 percent are from Guangdong, he said.