Domestic brands are becoming strong enough to challenge the world's top 500 on the global stage in three to five years, according to a report by the Beijing Famous-brand Evaluation Co Ltd.
The report cited FAW (First Automobile Works), Hongtashan (a cigarette brand), Haier (a household appliances brand) and Legend (a computer brand) as possible candidates.
The evaluation company Wednesday released its 6th annual report on the ranking and value of 32 major Chinese brands in 18 industries.
Company representatives said they based their judgments on a mix of sales, profitability, comparison with similar products and input in image building.
Hongtashan came at the top, named China's most valuable brand for the 6th consecutive year, the report said.
Although Hongtashan's current value - 43.9 billion yuan (US$5.29 billion) - is tiny compared with even the smallest of the world's top 500 brands, the report insisted that Chinese brands are growing rapidly and are likely to catch up with world name brands in the next half-decade.
Yuxi Hongta Tobacco Group, owner of Hongtashan, had sales of US$2.49 billion last year, not even one-tenth of the average sales for top 500 companies, which was reportedly US$25.39 billion.
But sales of Chinese brands are increasing rapidly. The first 10 most valuable brands, for example, increased 30.9 percent in annual sales on average, said the company.
Sales of Haier, China's second most valuable brand at 33 billion yuan (US$4.0 billion), multiplied by 550 percent in the last five years, according to the company.
(China Daily 12/07/2000)
