BEIJING, Sept. 8 -- China is stepping up efforts to establish a national early warning system on imports and exports to protect industries and companies from unfair competition.

    The Ministry of Commerce announced yesterday that it will expand its industry security database, which currently covers automobiles, fertilizers, steel, textiles, machine tools and electronic information products, to four more sectors petrol and petrochemicals, machinery, building materials and light industry.

    Monitoring indicators will be expanded from the current 27 to 142, which include data from companies, key industries and macroeconomic statistics, according to Gao Hucheng, vice-minister of commerce.

    Products under all 7,614 customs tax file numbers will be included in the database, expanding from the current monitored products under 2,733 customs tax file numbers.

    And more companies will join the database, said Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai.

    According to Bo, the database previously monitored only 500 enterprises across the country, but this will increase to over 3,000.

    "It is expected 10,000 companies will be included in the monitoring system at the end of the year and the number will rise to 30,000 by 2008 to perfect our early warning system," Bo said.

    The ministry also aims to add data from foreign competitors to provide companies with better information on the international market and improve their competitiveness.

    And 300 experts from related industries will participate in the system to help analyze the impact on domestic industries of domestic and foreign trade policies, import and export volumes and price changes.

    "Experiences from foreign countries showed that establishing a pre-warning system is one of the basic measures they have adopted to protect industry security," Bo told reporters.

    The ministry adopted and gradually set up the international practice of early warning systems in some industries after the country entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.

    But as China opens up and competition in the international market intensifies, the country faces more trade frictions.

    Chinese products have so far been subject to 254 anti-dumping measures, four subsidies, 38 safeguard measures and 68 special safeguard measures implemented by foreign countries.

    Protecting domestic industries from unfair charges has become an important issue, Gao said.

    The expanded industry security database will allow experts to suggest adjustments to export prices or destinations to avoid possible disputes, and to equip domestic companies with import information to avoid losses, said Mei Xinyu, a trade researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Co-operation.

    The Ministry of Commerce yesterday named 12 local commerce departments including the Anhui provincial commerce department and 10 organizations such as the China Textile Industry Association and China Steel Industry Association as pilots to help build the database.

    (Source: China Daily)