KW
Annex
Trends in Trade
1
China has great natural energy and mineral resources and
steadily improving agricultural productivity, although the
development of infrastructure and industry is still backward and
GDP per head very low. But China has demonstrated both the will
and capacity to expand rapidly, most notably in textiles. China
has announed the target of quadrupling output in both industry
and agriculture over the last 20 years of this century. The IMF
forecast that China's exports will grow at an annual rate of 10.5%
between 1982 and 1985 and at 9.1% pa between 1985 and 1990. China,
having grown from a small base only a few years ago, is now the
third largest supplier of textiles to the UK and our sixth largest
clothing supplier. China is therefore arguably already a
"dominant supplier", alongside Hong Kong, S Korea, Macao and Taiwan.
China's declared export priorities also include non-ferrous metals',
rare metals, non-metallic minerals, chemical industry and
pharmaceutical products, and agricultural products and by-products.
While continuing to promote exports, China confines imports of
essential items of plant and machinery not produced in China. The
World Bank estimate that between 1985 and 1990 Chinese imports of
equipment will grow at an average of 5% per year (down from over 25%
in the first half of the decade).