According to information from Shanghai Customs, 11.14 million phones that were "Made in China" were exported during the first 10 months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 53.4 per cent. The major overseas markets included Germany, the United States, Thailand and Singapore.

Domestic manufacturers exported more than 100,000 sets via Shanghai, the country's largest port, in the first 10 months.

Zhang Mengqi, a publicity official with Shanghai Customs, said the country's mobile phone exports are still dominated by foreign brands like Motorola, Siemens, Ericsson and NEC.

But he said domestic manufacturers like Bird, TCL and Kejian had also begun taking a bite in the overseas market while strongly competing in the local market against multinational giants.

(China Daily November 20, 2002)