International Retailers' Global Sourcing Fair Opens in Nanjing

Anchor: The 4th International Retailers' Global Sourcing Fair is being held in eastern China's Nanjing city, with some 50 international participants.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce that organized the event hopes it can promote a bridging between transnational retailers and domestic suppliers against the backdrop of the global economic downturn.

XYee has more.

Reporter: The three-day fair opened Sunday. It comes at a time when foreign demand has been dampened by the global financial crisis. Both international buyers and domestic suppliers are striving to reduce their costs in a bid to beat the crisis.

Xu Min, an official with the Ministry of Commerce, says the fair caters to current market conditions.

He says international retailers at the fair have submitted purchase lists not only for the domestic market, but also export goods for the first time.

"International buyers are under pressure to cut costs and shorten the purchasing channels. So at this year's fair, some enterprises like Carrefour are offering purchase lists for export procurement, in an effort to curb the impact of the financial crisis. With the lists, some Chinese suppliers can sell goods to retailers at a lower cost. So the fair is a win-win means to cut cost and raise efficiency for both sides."

According to preliminary statistics, a record number of purchase lists have been submitted by foreign buyers with more than 10,000 items from some 400 categories.

International buyers say although the financial crisis has decreased market demand, there is still strong momentum for the export of China-made products.

Pierre-Dominique Oubrier is president of Carrefour Global Sourcing.

"The more the crisis is occurring in the world, the more I think China has a fantastic opportunity to export goods to Europe and to South America. For Carrefour, of course we have huge plans to take the opportunity of the crisis to increase global sourcing. And in terms of Carrefour China, the procurement is very important for us, because we have a very good relationship and long-term partnership with our suppliers, but part of our job is to find new suppliers."

E-Mart, the largest retailer in South Korea, used to buy Chinese products through dealers. In order to cut costs, E-Mart is sending a purchasing team to the fair for the first time.

Yoon Seok Jun is manager of the overseas purchasing department's China branch. He says E-Mart will purchase 80 million dollars worth of goods from China this year, a hike of 60% compared with last year's figures.

"South Korean consumers like Chinese textile products, so we are increasing our purchases accordingly. We used to buy the products though dealers, but now we are negotiating with producers directly. It saves us paying extra fees for intermediate agencies, and could also better guarantee quality, which helps us generate bigger profits."

The International Retailers' Global Sourcing Fair is a biennial event, and was first held in 2002.

XYee, CRI news.