TAIPEI: A seminar in Taipei yesterday drew 340 corporate representatives, eager to learn about how to cash in on the mainland's rising consumer demand, according to seminar organizers.

Wang Chih-kang, chairman of the quasi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), said at the opening ceremony he was pleased by the turnout. He told the gathering that TAITRA had arranged 588 one-on-one sessions for them with visiting mainland buyers later in the day.

Some 143 mainland buyers arrived in Taipei Sunday on the second procurement mission organized this year by the Beijing-based Association of Economy and Trade Across the Taiwan Straits (AETATS) and are expected to place orders in Taiwan for NT$6.64 billion ($200 million) worth of products.

The first procurement group sent by the AETATS - an organization set up by the Ministry of Commerce to handle cross-Straits trade deals and promote commercial exchanges - placed more than $2.2 billion worth of orders for computers, televisions and other home appliances when it visited from the mainland in June.

The latest mainland delegation is composed of representatives from 73 enterprises from various parts of the country. Among the corporate entities taking part in the mission are major department store chains, supermarkets and logistics providers. Companies like Wangfujing Department Store, the Hefei Department Store Group, and Wuhan Zhongbai Group Co Ltd are taking part.

According to TAITRA, the second group of mainland buyers are from 11 provinces and four municipalities - Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing - which represent 54 percent of the mainland's population and an annual retail value of NT$20 trillion ($0.6 trillion).

Official statistics from the mainland show that the retail sale of consumer products increased by 15 percent in the first five months of this year as a result of a series of economic stimulus packages that include a new subsidy program to expand consumer purchases of home appliances in rural areas.

"With the mainland's domestic market apparently playing a leading role in the recovery of the global economy, TAITRA is actively organizing more procurement missions to come to Taiwan," Wang said.

TAITRA hopes that a wider range of Taiwanese suppliers can tap into the mainland market, as the mainland buyers are expected to place huge orders for products in Taiwan's speciality and creative industries, such as food delicacies, fruits, daily necessities, arts and craft and clothes, he added.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 07/14/2009 page2)