Trade centre to boost printing business
By Liu Weifeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-17 10:48

The Pearl River Delta Region will take a big step toward becoming a world printing centre, with the completion of a printing trade centre in China South International Industrial Materials City early next month.

The Shenzhen-based China South International Industrial Materials City is the largest-ever and only national experimental logistics centre in China, after implementation of the two CEPAs (closer economic partnership arrangements) between the mainland and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.

Inside the industrial materials city, 200,000 square metres will be set aside for a printing, paper products and packaging area, which will be divided into two phases. The first phase of 100,000 square metres will take shape in April.

A total of 840 booths will be unveiled to showcase the latest raw materials and designs.

"We're shaping it as a fair for printing businesses," said China South International Industrial Materials City Chairman Ricky Cheng.

The whole industrial materials city, covering an area of 2.2 million square metres area, will serve as a multi-functional platform for printing and packaging, plastics, electronics and garment raw materials displaying and trading, which was set up with some 2.6 billion yuan (US$313 million) in investment from five Hong Kong companies including Kinox Enterprises Ltd, Luk Ka International Ltd, Wetter International Limited, Jianina Hong Kong Limited and the Man Sang Group.

Hong Kong has long been listed as one of the world's biggest printing centres over the past few decades. However, 70 per cent of its manufacturing capacity has been transferred to the neighbouring Pearl River Delta Regions in recent years.

In Guangdong alone, the printing industry yielded 65.9 billion yuan (US$7.94 billion) output value in 2002, accounting for one-third of the nation's total that year.

In 2003, the industry witnessed a 10 per cent year-on-year growth, according to Printing Technology Association of Guangdong Deputy Chairman Zhang Xiangyu, though the most recent statistics for last year are not yet available.

He also predicted the industry will maintain a stable growth momentum this year, at about 10 per cent.

In terms of printing manufacturing exports, a record high worth 13 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) was recorded in Guangdong in 2002, and it remained at the same level in 2003, taking an 80 per cent share of the nation's total, Zhang said.

"I'm optimistic about Guangdong's printing potential, especially with collaboration from Hong Kong and its counterparts in Guangdong," Cheng said.

Shenzhen is home to only 0.2 per cent of China's printing enterprises. However, it generates some 20 per cent of the nation's total revenue in the industry and produced a 60 per cent share of China's high-end products in recent years.

Guangdong has since the beginning of last year set the ambitious target of making itself a world printing centre, following a feasibility report being made by the provincial and national investigators from the printing administrations.