According to Lin Ying, secretary-general of the fair’s organizing committee, 220,000 professional buyers from 30 countries and regions across the world visited the four-day event. Lin said there were 68,000 attendees from Japan alone.

A total of 24,803 projects at the fair were under negotiation and 2,860 of them made deals during the event. The total value of the contracts was not available.

“Not only (was this) an excellent platform for SMEs at home and abroad to seek market opportunities, but the event also played a very effective role in helping domestic SMEs partner up with their counterparts at home and abroad, and diversify their fund-raising channels,” Lin said.

He said that exhibiting SMEs not only benefited from the centralized purchases of global retail giants like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Metro, and local retailers like Gome and Grandbuy, but also from the financing opportunities handed out by the banking institutions and fund-raising agencies.

A total of 19 exhibiting SMEs signed agreements with banks to receive credit worth more than 100 million yuan (US$13.3 million) during the event.

Source : chinadaily.com

The Guangzhou branch of the People’s Bank of China, which is in charge of the project, said it will input the credit information of 360,000 SMEs, two-thirds of the province’s total, into the database by the end of the year.

The figure does not include firms in Shenzhen, which are not covered by the Guangzhou branch.

Branch vice governor Xu Nuojin said the companies to be included are those that have been officially registered but not yet been involved in a credit relationship with a commercial bank.

Their basic information, legal status, business details and financial status will be recorded on the database.

Information about their tax payments and utility fees will be added later, said Xu.

“For several reasons, SMEs face many more difficulties in raising funds. The database is expected to play the role of credit archives of the SMEs so that they get easier access to loans from commercial banks,” he explained.

“In turn, the banks will be able to get a clearer picture of the firms applying for loans, so the whole process can be speeded up.”

Xu said all credit information will be kept strictly confidential and only authorized institutions with valid requirements will be able to access it.

“Banks will be subject to varying penalties if they inquire about information illegally and use it for any purpose other than that which is authorized.”

Li Qingqing, an associate professor with South China Normal University’s economics department, said the credit database will benefit both SMEs and banks.

“It will be easier for SMEs with good credit records to raise funds and it will be easier for commercial banks to spot potential customers,” she noted.

As one of the nation’s 17 pilot provinces and cities selected to set up an SME credit database, Guangdong had submitted information on 11,203 SMEs last year.

Since then, 1,508 businesses have been approved for credit extension loans, while a further 336 have actually received funds.

China began to promote the construction of SME credit databases in 2006. Information relating to more than 140,000 SMEs across the nation has been added, with over 10 percent of them having received either credit extensions, loan intentions or loans.

Source :chinadaily.com

“This is a significant development”, comments Euromonitor International’s Research Director, Andy Carter. “China and India have some of the world’s fastest growth rates in urbanisation and in numbers of households and these demographic and social factors are boosting the rapid development of their retailing markets. The easing of the retail FDI regulatory environment in India is also making it an increasingly attractive target for international players”, he added.

While national retailers in China and India surged forward in the Retail Asia Top 500 list, 2006 also saw major foreign retailers bowing out of some challenging Asian markets. Tesco and Casino pulled out of Taiwan, while in South Korea, Carrefour sold its outlets to home-grown retailer E Land Corp and Wal-Mart sold its operations to Shinsegae Department Store.

Euromonitor’s Andy Carter explains, “2006 was a year of strategic re-think for many international retailers, with several major players withdrawing from key Asian markets – where their chance of becoming market leader was limited – in order to focus their operations on markets providing better opportunities for growth.”

Steven Goh, executive chairman of Retail Asia said, “We are seeing considerable changes in this year’s Retail Asia Top 500 listing compared to the first edition in 2004 – changes in names of retail companies, sales volumes, ranking positions … with all of these changes reflecting the very robust economies in the region in these past few years,” he added.

Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500 by Euromonitor International

Source: http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-LDjQCYMic6eEyavDA_rIeXqqYILY?p=310