Trends and Opportunities - China

Tuesday, 5 January 2010

2010 Trends and Opportunities in China

Editorial comment

By Bruce Connelly, Pathfinder Business China Correspondent, Beijing.

Through 2010 China will continue to strengthen its global position both economically and politically.

Apart from the export sector much of the country appears to be moving rapidly beyond the recession of 2009. Indeed large parts of the country, particularly away from south eastern coastal areas, saw little downward movement.

Unlike cash-strapped developed nations with their huge public borrowing requirements, China is sitting on vast saving reserves some of which were channelled into a massive stimulus package, which has clearly worked. With economic growth expected to be over 9% this year, the country's growing and affluent consumer market continues to draw attention from leading western brand names within the automobile and luxury goods sectors.

A rapid growth in high end shopping malls is also encouraging cities such as Beijing to focus on becoming world shopping destinations.

Real estate, commercial and residential, continues to be a major factor in current economic growth and in stimulating domestic consumer demand.

Urbanisation will continue to grow over the next decade, along with an industrial sector increasingly focussed on innovative and creative technology.

This year attention will be on Shanghai with the 2010 EXPO and Guangzhou with the 2010 Asian Games. Beijing meanwhile is focussing more on international business with a doubling in size of its CBD.

Infrastructure projects will see growth in the high-speed rail network and in urban metro construction regarded as vital towards greening the cities. The Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge project will, on completion, strengthen the Pearl River Delta's position as a major trading gateway.

Environmentally, renewable energy will increasingly be pursued along with a growth in nuclear power. Governmental policies continue to favour the development of the country's vast western regions and a rejuvenation of its former heavy industrial powerhouse, the North East (Dongbei).

For more on 2010 Global trends and opportunities...