E-commerce, dubbed as the "new engine" of growth, is helping China sustain its foreign trade at a time when the nation's exports and imports have been decelerating for months, said Vice-minister of Commerce Jiang Yaoping.
/ S$ }, G# `1 p, f K During a press conference on China's E-commerce Report 2008-2009, he said China's e-commerce industry will grow "at a high speed" in the coming years and the nation is soon expected to overtake Japan as the world's third-largest nation in terms of value of e-commerce transactions, given that e-commerce is gaining recognition nationwide./ |' {+ m O" m! b6 ]9 q
"Besides helping enterprises tap new markets, reduce costs and cope with the financial crisis, e-commerce also plays a bigger role in assisting China to stabilize exports and stimulate domestic demand," said Jiang.( O i5 {+ e/ \
While demand from developed regions such as North America, European Union, Japan and South Korea remains sluggish amid a weak global economic recovery, he said China's manufacturers and exporters are shifting to emerging markets such as the Middle East and Latin America to tap into new growth via e-commerce.
0 x! B& j9 k; a China's export growth eased off for three consecutive months since May and imports saw a decline for five straight months. However, the slowdown would be sustained in the coming months of the year, said a spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce.
/ X ~$ [, Z+ k P$ Y4 M- R/ F China's e-commerce has grown rapidly during the financial crisis. In 2008, Internet sales grew by 44.8 percent from a year earlier to 3.14 trillion yuan ($461 billion), and in 2009, it rose to 3.83 trillion yuan with a 21.7 percent growth, according to the report released by the ministry.
9 q# p# O, [7 V7 z E-commerce growth accelerated in the first half of this year. E-commerce transactions reached 2.25 trillion yuan between January and June this year, said a recent report by China e-Business Research Center.- I/ ^' X8 s' X
The State Council Information Center predicted recently the nation's e-commerce industry is expected to "register average annual growth rate of above 35 percent in the next few years".! C; l* W7 U+ b; g' J
Although e-commerce transactions are expected to grow further, they are not expected to surpass the 2008 levels, Jiang said.2 S6 P; X: x' m. M
In 2009, China was ranked fourth in terms of market share in global e-commerce, behind the EU, US and Japan.
' L& k# ?& J# M; g) x. m With more Chinese especially those from the rural areas learning to shop online and exposed to the local e-commerce market, China is likely to surpass Japan as the third largest e-commerce market worldwide in the near future, Jiang said. |