China opts four cities as second tier auto-parts export bases

Shanghai. September 24 (Gasgoo.com) - China has chosen Hefei （Anhui province）, Guangzhou (Guangdong province), Baoding (Hebei province) and Liuzhou (Guangxi province) as the second tier auto parts export bases, a senor official from Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.

Since China's entry into WTO in 2001, China's automobile and auto parts export has been growing 95.6 percent annually. It is expected that China will export half a million units in 2007.

Back in 2004, China had choosen eight cities as the first tier auto parts export bases. These cities include Changchun  (Jilin province), Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan (Hubei province), Xiamen (Fujian province), Wuhan (Anhui province), Taizhou (Zhejiang province) and Shenyang (Liaoning province).

"China's automobile and auto parts export has entered fast track these years," said Bo Xilai, China's Minister of Commerce. "It will continue to grow vigorously."

In order to regulate automobile exports, Ministry of Commerce, together with four other central government agencies have issued an ordinance on automobile exports in March this year. The ordinace has raised hurdles for auto parts exports.

Following the ordinance in March, China exported 222,000 vehicles in five months (April-Aug 2007), up 80.5 percent year-on-year and total value of automobile exports has reached US$2.56, up 126.5 percent.

The raised hurdles have cut the number of China's automobile export enterprises to 517 from 1340.