Small firms will see steady recovery in orders

China's small enterprises are expected to see a steady recovery in 2013, although the country missed its foreign-trade target last year, a survey from a leading e-commerce company suggests.

"China's small enterprises will have frequent orders and their single export values will steadily grow this year, given that many of them witnessed a strong rebound in trade at the end of last year," said Xiao Feng, deputy general manager of Shenzhen Onetouch Business Service.

The company, which provides online foreign-trade business outsourcing services for small enterprises, has found in its 4,000 sampled small firms that orders and trade value grew steadily each month in 2012.

"Compared with 2011, the trade for small enterprises has boomed a lot," Xiao said.

China's foreign trade grew 6.2 percent year-on-year to $3.86 trillion last year, lower than the 10 percent target set at the beginning of the year. According to the latest figure from the General Administration of Customs, exports, rose by 7.9 percent to $2.05 trillion, compared with a 20.3 percent jump in 2011. Meanwhile, imports saw a 4.3 percent growth to $1.82 trillion, down from 24.9 percent growth in the previous year.

"China's export rose by 14.1 percent in December last year, sending a positive signal for its growth," Xiao told China Daily.

In small enterprises sampled by Shenzhen Onetouch Business Service, a single import and export value reached an average of $35,000 each month in 2012, a rise of 14 percent from the previous year.

Moreover, small enterprises saw less financial pressures in 2012, Xiao said.

"They will continue to see an easing trend in financial pressure this year as more preferential policies are introduced," Xiao said.

Founded in 2001, Shenzhen Onetouch joined Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China's biggest e-commerce company, in 2011 and has registered about 300 percent growth in foreign trade in each of the past three years.

"The strong growth momentum in foreign trade indicates that Chinese products are still popular overseas. The key factor behind the growth is that we have found an efficient channel for Chinese small manufacturers to better conduct foreign trade," Xiao said.

The company currently serves about 10,000 small enterprises, and trade transacted through the company's online platform reached $1.8 billion last year, Xiao said.

Up to 70 percent of its clients are based in Guangdong province, which contributes about a fourth of China's foreign trade.

Guangdong's foreign trade grew 7.7 percent year-on-year in 2012 to reach $983.8 billion.

However, provincial governor Zhu Xiaodang said at a foreign trade meeting on Monday that Guangdong faces challenges in foreign trade in the years ahead due to global economic woes.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn