A Hangzhou-based firm is setting up what it claims will be the largest wholesale market in Northern Europe - and it needs 1,100 traders.

 

For 3.6 million yuan, Fanerdun Co is offering entrepreneurs a company registered in Sweden, a 40-sq-m market stall and a 70-sq-m apartment in Kalmar, a city in the south of Sweden, as well as an 80-sq-m apartment in Hangzhou, in East China's Zhejiang Province.

 

The market is set to open in Kalmar on September 28.

 

Fanerdun put an initial 500 million yuan into the 50,000-sq-m market of 1,100 stalls. It will begin with five product categories, including hardware, food and handicrafts.

 

"We want to build a business platform combining trade, manufacturing, services and housing," said Luo Jinxing, chairman of Fanerdun.

 

Luo said set-up costs are minimal because the city of Kalmar will allow his company to import all the materials from China, and employ Chinese designers and labor.

 

Bricks are one example of how it says it's keeping costs down. A brick in Sweden costs 9 yuan. But in China the same brick sells for less than 1 yuan and they're about 1.5 yuan apiece when bought in China and shipped to Europe.

 

Luo said the project offers Chinese investors an opportunity to access Europe and avoid trade barriers.

 

"It (establishing a company in Sweden) also enables Chinese firms to learn from their Swedish counterparts."

 

Roland Carlsson, chief executive officer of the city of Kalmar, said the government will support Fanerdun to develop the market into the most influential in the Baltic Sea region.

 

Carlsson said the wholesale market was a vital foreign investment project for the city, and would affect its economy, employment and development.

 

The project has already received 6,000 to 7,000 applications, most of them from businesspeople in Zhejiang Province, said Luo. Many are interested in the immigration aspect of the deal, as entrepreneurs and their families will be able to get residence visas after two years, he said.

 

The firm is reviewing the submissions, looking for qualified and experienced applicants with good products.

 

"It is investment-oriented rather than an immigration project," he said.

 

The project offers "a new way for Chinese companies to invest abroad", said Ma Yu, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

 

China's outward direct investment totaled $16.1 billion in 2006, up 31.6 percent on the previous year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

 

"China is only just beginning to show its strength in overseas investments," Ma said.

 

(China Daily August 7, 2007)