Call To Explore China's Second-, Third-Tier Cities for Car Spare Parts

By Joan S. Santani NANNING (CHINA), Sept 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysian companies should look into exploring other provinces such as the second- and third-tier cities in China, particularly in the car spare parts sector, said Second Minister of International Trade and Industry, Ong Ka Chuan. He said the companies could export car spare parts to China as the sector was huge and demanding. Ong said the Malaysian car market was smaller compared to China. Last year, Malaysia only recorded sales of 580,000 units compared to China’s 28 million units, he said. "We see big potentials in China’s second- and third-tier cities like Nanning, Kunming, Chengdu, Zhuhai, Nanjing and Tienjing," he told reporters after officiating the Malaysian Pavilion and Labuan as the "City of Charm" at the 14th China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) here Monday. Malaysia expects its bilateral trade with China to increase to US$160 billion (US$1 = RM4.19) by 2020. Trade between Malaysia and China for the first half of 2017 rose by 27.7 per cent to RM163.02 billion, with increased imports namely for petroleum products, followed by electrical and electronics as well as machinery, equipment and parts. Malaysia's participation in this year’s CAEXPO was among the strategies to strengthen bilateral trade with China, said Ong. He said government officials from Guangxi were expected to visit Malaysia in October to discuss student exchange programmes to further strengthen the relationship with China. Earlier, Ong visited the China Post-ASEAN e-commerce logistics centre, which would provide a platform for Malaysian companies to introduce their products and services in China, especially in rural areas. The four-day annual event has been organised since 2004 in Nanning (the third largest city in China), is a platform to promote cooperation between China and ASEAN in trade, investment and tourism. This year’s CAEXPO is themed "Jointly Build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, Maritime Silk Road, Promote Regional Economic Integration through Tourism". Labuan has been chosen as City of Charm for CAEXPO 2017, it is a tourist attraction and located strategically next to Brunei, which has been selected as a country of honour this year. -- BERNAMA