The Ministry of Commerce pledged to give exporters more support
in overcoming overseas technical barriers whose impact on exports
is surpassing traditional tariffs.
"The government will, on one hand, provide information and
technical support for enterprises, and on the other, it will
support multilateral negotiations concerning the barriers,"
Vice-Commerce Minister Yi Xiaozhun said yesterday.
More than 15 percent of Chinese exporters are affected by
overseas technical trade barriers, according to the latest report
released yesterday by the ministry.
The report was based on a survey of more than 1,200 enterprises
conducted by the ministry, local government and industrial
organizations.
It said 18 out of 22 categories of exports suffered direct
losses because of the barriers. The losses last year totalled about
US$69.1 billion or more than 9 percent of the country's total
exports.
Opportunities lost were worth US$147 billion last year, about 20
percent of the total exports.
The measures to deal with foreign technical barriers also
increased the cost to enterprises by US$21.7 billion last year.
The technical barriers, involving changes to regulations and
standards, have replaced import tariffs as the major threat to
overseas exports, in particular to the European Union, the United
States and Japan.
Yi said major problems Chinese enterprises face when dealing
with technical barriers is the lack of information, capital and
resolution.
The ministry will accelerate the publication of booklets dealing
with the barriers and international standards.
"We are glad to see the country is poised to participate in the
stipulation of international technical standards," said a manager
from Beijing-based Tongrentang, a 337-year-old pharmacy and
exporter of traditional Chinese medicines.
She said information and advice from the government had helped
the company address some practical problems in overseas markets,
thereby sharpening its competitive edge.
(China Daily December 26, 2006)