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BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- This Tuesday, China's Ministry of Commerce released data about the country's foreign direct investment situation in the first nine months. FDI increased nearly 9 percent year on year, reaching more than 585 billion yuan. Foreign investors' shared their views during the 118th Canton Fair.
Despite China's struggle to shore up foreign trade, there were still 500 companies at the 118th Canton fair. For many of them, Canton Fair is only a stepping stone of their expansion plan to China.
"As this company Ewbank, this is the second time we've been here at the canton fair. In China we have two offices, Changsha and Hangzhou, we hope to expand full distribution. This is why we came to the fair," said Ben Roberts, Marketing Admin, Ewbank Products.
"We hope to find some suitable partners to help us in China and just expand as much as we can in both China and its surrounding areas.
Ewbank's marketing administrator Ben Roberts believes rising costs may slow down the country's manufacturing temporarily, but despite this he remains positive on the situation.
"Yes the manufacturing is going down and things are moving to other countries, but the quality and the service I think it's really stabilizing and it's even get better. Even though it might be slowing down at some areas, it's really improving at others. So we still like working with China," Ben said.
According to some experts at the International Monetary Fund, since last year, China has become the largest economy when measured by purchasing power parity.
Western countries are not the only ones attracted by China's lucrative market. Central Asian and ASEAN countries have seen trade with China bloom in recent years.
"It's the third session we've been here. Our main purpose this time is to find agents in China. For us with a population of over 1.3 billion people, China is very big market with huge potential," said Eric Ooi, Malaysian Exhibitor.
"Many Malaysian businessmen are very interested in the market too. I think the economic slowdown is only a temporary issue. In the long run, it will become the largest economy in the world, as strong as the U.S."
Even though some foreign businesses say China is no longer their first choice, there are still plenty of companies who want to invest. Nearly 19,000 overseas companies established offices or factories in China in the first nine months of 2015.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
