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The China market is composed of 1.3
billion. It is twice the number of the European and American
population. However, there is no such thing as a “One China”
market.
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• The market has 31 provinces
•
656 major cities and 48,000 districts
• 7 major dialects
and 80 spoken languages
• There is a great divide
specially in incomes between urban and rural
population |
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๐ The urban per capita
disposable income is $930
๐ The rural per capita income is
$299. |
| China 's sub-geo economies
are not evenly developed. There are two Chinas: |
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• The affluent, modernizing cities on the eastern seaboard.
These are the Yangtze Delta (the greater Shanghai area), the
Pearl Delta ( Guangzhou , Shenzen and neighbouring cities) and
the North-Eastern Region (Beijing/Tianjin area). These areas
attracted 70% of the China 's total FDI, contributed 70% to
exports and generated 65% of the GDP in 2003. |
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• The slow-to-change
impoverished Western countryside where 850 million live.
“Develop the West” continues to be the slogan in the
government's agenda. |
| In the last five years,
the economy of China has grown by 60%. |
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• It is the fastest growing economy
in the world
• It is the 4 th largest exporting nation
• China is the world's largest importer
• Its share of
global trade is 7%.
• China consumed 55% of world cement
and
• 36% of world steel
• In terms of purchasing
power parity, China is the 2 nd largest economy in the
world,
after the US. |
With this development, it
continues to be a favoured destination for foreign investment.
In 2004, direct investments increased over 13% to $60.6
billion. Investors come mainly for the unskilled labour which
is about 4% of the cost in the US and about a third of the
cost in countries like Malaysia .
With such a
phenomenal growth rate, the Chinese government sees a 10%
slowdown for 2005 and 2006. However, there are still plenty of
opportunities more so when China liberalizes its internal
market. China will continue to open its markets as part of its
commitment to the WTO. |
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• The banking sector is
expected to open up in 2006
• Commercial sector,
wholesaling, retailing, franchising are slowly being
liberalised |
