Exporters, retailers struggle over biz...

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce's attempts to encourage struggling exporters to seal supply deals with local retailers as a way of offsetting a slump in overseas shipments do not appear to be working, according to a Business Post report. The difficulties of selling products to local stores, intellectual property theft, unattractive payments terms and the small orders involved make the domestic market unattractive even for companies still riding out the economic slump. Exporters signed deals worth US$34.4b with overseas buyers during the spring session of the Canton Fair, which closed on May 5, 2010, up 12.6% from the trade fair's previous sessions six months ago. The volume of deals was reportedly 10.3% behind the pre-financial crisis level in early 2008, the Ministry of Commerce said. But it did not disclose figures on how much business the manufacturers had secured from domestic buyers. That was despite an announcement that 8,000 large and medium-sized supermarket chains will be purchasing from manufacturers at the twice-a-year event. It had said 70% of the exhibitors were interested in the trade-matching.