It will hold a purchase seminar in Shanghai in May and its branch offices in the Republic of Korea and China's Taiwan will be invited to purchase goods in Shanghai.

At present, the purchases of Walmart in China account for at least 5 to 6 per cent of its global sales, according to a report of the Economic Daily.

"Many well-known multinational enterprises plan to set up purchase offices in Shanghai," said Xu Li, an official with the commission.

The Shanghai purchase office of General Electronics of the United States buys goods across the country worth US$400 million annually, as well as US$130 million worth of products from Shanghai.

"We have come here with the aim of expanding our business with local enterprises," said Christophe Roussel, managing director of Carrefour Global Sourcing Asia. He said Carrefour buys more goods from China than anywhere else in the Asia-Pacific region.

"And it keeps growing," said Xu.

Attracting more multinational chain stores and their purchase offices to Shanghai is currently high on the commission's agenda, according to Li Mu, director of the trade promotion department of the commission.

"Apart from purchases for their outlets in China, another task of these buyers is to export products made in China to outlets in foreign countries, which benefits the local economy a lot," added Xu.

"The purchase offices of multinational chain stores in Shanghai are a main channel through which the city's export will be expanded," said Zhu Xiaoming, deputy secretary-general of the city government.

In the past, most foreign trade orders were processing orders. Domestic enterprises lack the competitive ability to succeed on the international market.

(China Daily 04/09/2001)