China Printing Industry Update

China's Macro Economy Update

All in print China 2006 Update

A. China Printing Industry Update

A-I. Status and Development of China's Printing Industry

Since the 7th World Print Congress and China's WTO accession, China's printing industry has been growing at an annual rate of 15 percent. The output value of the printing industry nationwide was more than RMB260 billion yuan in 2004, accounting for about 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product. In recent years, the development of China's printing industry has demonstrated the following features:

Firstly, regional printing industrial zones are taking shape. Regional printing centers have been formed in three major economic areas: the Pearl River delta (including Hong Kong and Macao ), the Yangtze River delta and the Bohai rim. These regions account for about two thirds of the total output value of the printing industry nationwide.

Secondly, exchanges and cooperation with the outside world have been further expanded. In recent years, nearly 100 foreign-invested printing enterprises have been approved each year. At the same time, China's own printing industry has also been going abroad, with the export of printed products and printing equipment being grown year after year. In 2003, the export value was more than RMB30 billion yuan.

Thirdly, a new round of technical transformation featuring digital technology is going on in an orderly manner. While CTP technologies are getting increasingly popular, digital and network technologies are applied in newspaper printing in a faster way and the digital printing market is being exploited.

Fourthly, corporate reform has been deepening. Right now, a situation in which diverse economic components of the printing industry are developing hand in hand has already appeared, with the market mechanism playing a fundamental role in resource allocation.

In the new century, China's printing industry is facing new historical opportunities.

Firstly, the Chinese government has made a strategic decision, i.e. by the year 2020 to build a truly well off society and duplicate the year 2000's GDP. This decision represents an extremely good market opportunity for the printing industry.

Secondly, China's accession to the WTO, the comprehensive integration of the Chinese economy with the global economy, China's further opening to the outside world, and the closer exchanges and cooperation with foreign countries will all provide a vast market space for the development of China's printing industry.

Thirdly, the successful bidding for the Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai World Expo will turn huge amounts of investment into consumer demand, which will mean tremendous business opportunities for the printing service.

China's printing industry will seize these rare historical opportunities and achieve its development goals in two steps:

Step 1, China will work hard to turn itself into one of the major printing bases in the world by the year 2010. The main goals are:

China will accelerate the development of the printing industry, guided by the scientific concept of development. The output value of the printing industry will account for about 2.5 percent of the country's GDP, and its average annual growth rate will be slightly higher than that of the national economy.

Three regional printing centers will be built, each being distinctive from the other and all having a considerable overall strength. The Pearl River delta will be built into an export-oriented printing center, the Yangtze River delta into a printing center with the greatest overall strength in China , and the Bohai rim into an advanced production center for publication and printing in China . The digitalization and networking of the printing industry will be promoted, and advanced printing technologies and equipment will be developed so as to build a batch of backbone enterprises with international competitiveness. The marketization of the printing industry will be accelerated so that a united, open, competitive and orderly printing market system will be established across the country.

tep 2, by 2020 when China has become a truly well-off society, its printing industry will realize the transition from a major printing power in the world to a leading printing power, ranking itself among the most advanced nations.

Printing Enterprise Number Comparison

The World Printing Industry Turnover in 2003

Breakdown of Printing Enterprises in China

CTP Systems in China

Printing Methods Using in Packing Printing

The Chinese Printing Enterprises' Plan of Purchasing CTP Systems

A-II.Overview of Printing Enterprises in China

The Chinese printing market expanded tremendously in the past ten years, rising from 6.1 billion U.S. dollars in 1995 to 26 billion in 2004. The growth in the total turnover was due to the fast increase of production volume and the use of higher quality papers and other consumables.

The percentage of the total turnover of the printing industry versus the GDP moved up all the way. In 1995, the printing industry was only 0.86% of the GDP, signaling the printing industry was lagging behind the economic development. In 2003, the figure went up to 1.59%, which is quite close to the American figure of 1.65%. In most developed economies, the percentage of the volume of printing shipment against the GDP is between 1.5 to 3. We can see that China is catching up on this.

However, there is a huge difference in the per capita print value between the developed economies and China . The U.S. figure is $550, that of the UK , Germany , and Japan are $407, $264 and $640 respectively, while the Chinese is only $20. Also, the composition of the various sectors of the printing market could be very different.

In some of the advertised statistics, the Chinese authorities categorize the print market into five sectors, namely pre-press, book and magazine printing, newspaper and insert printing, package printing and other printing. Commercial jobs can fall into any one of the last four categories at random and are very difficult to trace. Package printing includes the manufacturing of carton boxes, packaging materials, labels, posters and other advertising materials, wrapping paper, metal and plastic containers, etc. Other printing includes document printing, data processing, and security printing.

The portion of package printing is very big, accounting for 48% of the total revenue in 2003, or close to 11 billion dollars. This, when compared to the American figure of only 15.8% of the total printing shipment, suggests China is using a lot of packaging materials for its export products and for the domestic consumer market. The trend will continue for a number of years as the manufacturing industries are still growing and the government is going to allow more investment in the package printing sector and comparatively less in the other sectors. According to the Press and Publication Administration, the estimated annual growth rate of the package printing business will be 10% in the next few years, while the other sectors will be growing at a rate of 3%, thus making the gap even bigger in the near future. Newspaper and insert printing comes next at 20% or 4.5 billion dollars, to be followed by other printing at 13% or 2.9 billion, while book and magazine printing was at 11% or 2.6 billion.

Last but not least were the companies with foreign investments (including those from Hong Kong , Macau and Taiwan ), either in the form of joint venture with some local Chinese partners or being wholly owned by the foreign investors. There are only 2,200 of them at the moment but the majority of them are medium or large-sized.

Quality printers which are playing a very important role in the modernization process of the Chinese printing industry, bringing into the country new concepts in management, quality standards, high technology, as well as different business models. After China's acceptance to the WTO in December 2001, the government has approved 170 printing enterprises with foreign investments in 2002 and 2003, with a total investment exceeding one billion U.S. dollars. Currently, the country has 2200 foreign invested printing enterprises, most of which have set up their facilities in Guangdong Province (totaling 1600) and in Shanghai and its vicinity (about 200). In 2003, there were 3500 paper manufacturers all over the country, employing 780,000 workers. 280 of them were foreign invested enterprises, only 8% of the total number but their sales revenues accounted for 30% of the national sum. The total tonnage of paper and board produced was 43 million, an increase of 14% over the previous year. In the same year, China imported 7 million tons of coated art paper and improved newsprint from overseas. According to the China Paper Association, the consumption will grow to 80 million tons by 2015, while the production will be 65 million tons, showing that China will have to import more than 15 million tons of paper in that year. At present, the per capita consumption of paper in China is 33 kg, far less than the average consumption of 200-300 kg in advanced countries such as Austria , Finland , Sweden , Germany and Japan , and is no match to the 340 kg as registered in the United States .

ABB's statistics shows that the top paper manufacturers in China are APP China, Chengming Group, Sun Paper, Nine Dragon, Lee & Man, Bohui Paper, UPM-Kymmene Suzhou, Tranlin Paper, and Yueyang Paper. It seems that other world top paper companies including Smurfit-Stone, Oji, Sappi, and Stora-Enso are investing or are looking for investment opportunities in China .

A-III. Top 100 Chinese Printing Enterprises in China

The list of TOP 100 Chinese enterprises in 2004 was released by Printing Manager . Shenzhen Jinjia Color Printing Group Co., Ltd ranks No.1 with its 1.6billion RMB sales volume, a new leader in printing industry. From the magazine we not only see the success and failure of enterprises, even the whole situation of printing industry.

1. classification and count based on annual sales volume.

I. Shenzhen Jinjia Color Printing Group Co.. Ltd ranks fist for 1.6bilion RMB annual sales volume. Shanxi Printing Factory ranking the last of top 100 enterprises' annual sales volume also reached 0.138billion RMB.

II. 4 groups with sales volume exceeding 1billion RMB are Shenzhen Jingjia, Hongxing , Guangdong Jinshenglushi and Zhongshang Zhangjiabian Group.
• Sales volume reaching between 0.5 billion and 1 billion RMB: 17enterprises
• Sales volume reaching between 0.3 billion and 0.5billion RMB: 29enterprises
• Sales volume reaching between 0.2 billion and 0.3billion RMB: 18erterprises
• Sales volume reaching 0.138billion to 0.2billion RMB: 32 enterprises

2. Classification and count according to province, city and region.

I. North China: 11 in total
• Beijing : 3,Tianjing: 4, Shanxi : 1, Shandong : 3

II. East China: 36 in total
• Anhui : 4, Jiangsu : 3, Zhejiang : 14,Shanghai: 15

III. Central China: 6 in total
• Hubei : 3, Hunan : 3

IV. Southern China: 38 in total
• Guangdong and Hongkong: 38, Fujian : 4

V. Northeast China: 2 in total
• Heilongjiang : 2

VI. Southeast China: 5 in total
• Sichuan ; 4, Yunnan : 1

VII. Northwest China: 2 in total
• Shanxi : 2

3. According to feature of economic ownership

• 15 state –owned enterprises;
• 2 collectively-owned enterprises;
• 6 privately-owned enterprises;
• 25 corporations (16Limited companies, 9stock limited companies)
• 52 foreign invested enterprises

4. According to printing technical feature

I. 64 packaging printing enterprises;

II. 26 book printing enterprises;

III. 10 others

IV. others are those engaged in commercial printing, magnetic card printing and security printing.

V. 6 leading enterprises among the 100 are packaging printing companies,7 are packaging printing companies among the top10,the other 3 are book printing companies.

VI. 64 packaging printing companies among the 100 count for 67.9% of total sales volume, and 26 book printing companies account for 23.7%.

B. China's Macro Economy Update

B-I. China's Economy grows 9.5% in 2004

National Bureau of Statistics Commissioner Li Deshui speaks at a press conference in Beijing January 25, 2005 . He said China's GDP grew at 9.5% in 2005, the fastest pace in several years. [Xinhua]

China's booming economy grew even faster in 2004, expanding at a blistering pace of 9.5 percent after 9.3 percent the previous year, official statistics showed.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said gross domestic product (GDP) came to 13.65 trillion yuan (US$1.65 trillion) as exports continued to drive expansion.

"It's very strong data. There is no sign of a slowdown in 2005. This is an economy fully capable of growing eight to 10 percent for many years," said Tim Condon, economist at ING Barings.

Li Deshui, commissioner for the National Bureau of Statistics, said the country had achieved "tangible" results in cementing macro-controls and had curbed "unhealthy and unstable" factors in the economy.

"National economic development will maintain the good momentum of stable and rapid growth with mild increase in prices as long as we follow the guiding principle of the scientific concepts of economic and social development set forth by the central government," he said.

He added that China must "implement various measures in strengthening and improving macro-economic regulations, continuously push reform and opening programs and make efforts in building a harmonious society".

China began 2004 amid serious worries that the economy was dangerously overheated, with easy credit fuelling a production boom and soaring investment in government infrastructure products. Inflation rose at an alarming rate, hitting a peak of 5.3 percent in July and August, as inventories of cars and production steel and cement rose sharply.

Fixed asset investment, an indication of how much the government is spending on major infrastructure projects, hit 10-year highs in the January to March period, growing 43 percent but efforts now to cool overheated industries such as real estate, construction and autos are seen to be taking effect.

China has made clear that ensuring the economy remains on a more even keel this year is crucial.

Last month it said a prudent fiscal policy, and stable economic growth with an emphasis on efficiency and preventing overheating, were the overarching goals for 2005.

China's dizzying fixed-asset investment slowed slightly last year to 25.8 percent compared with 26.7 percent in 2003 and analysts said the amount of money the government was spending on large infrastructure projects should continue to fall.

Among other figures released today, China's industrial output grew 11.5 percent in 2004 compared to 17 percent in 2003.

Consumer prices continued to gain last year, rising to 3.9 percent, some 2.7 percentage points more than the previous year, driven by soaring food prices, the data showed, but at least off the mid-year highs.

Urban prices were up 3.3 percent over 2003, while rural prices rose 4.8 percent, said Li.

Food prices alone jumped 9.9 percent, while fuel prices last year increased by 11.4 percent over 2003.

Meanwhile, retail sales of consumer goods increased 13.3 percent over 2003, reaching 5.395 trillion Yuan (US$651 billion), or at a 10.2 percent rate when adjusted for inflation.

President Hu said the Chinese government's target was to try to lift China's GDP to just over 4 trillion U.S. dollars, with a per capita GDP of $3000 by the year 2020, an average annual growth rate of 6.5%. According to some Chinese economy watchers, however, the annual growth rate of China's GDP between 2004 and 2008 will be no less than 8%, and President Hu's goal is therefore not difficult to achieve. By then, the buying power of the Chinese people will be threefold compared to 2003 and it is believed that the education level of the Chinese people will be upgraded so that there will be a bigger need for advertising and reading materials.

B-II. Foreign Investment in China in 2004

From January to December in 2004, the number of newly established enterprises by foreign investment totaled 43,664, an increase of 6.29% over the previous year. The total contracted value topped at US$153.479 billion, an increase of 33.38% year on year. Actually utilized foreign capital reached US$60.63 billion, up 13.32% year on year.

By the end of 2004, the accumulative total number of enterprises established by foreign investment as approved by the state was 508,941, with a total contracted value of US$1,096.608 billion and actually utilized foreign capital of US$562.101 billion. (Source: Press Office, Ministry of Commerce)

B-III. China's Total Volume of Imports and Exports Reached US$1,154.74 billion in 2004

On Jan. 11, the General Administration of Customs published a report on imports and exports for year 2004. As statistics from the General Administration of Customs show, China's foreign trade volume topped at US$1,154.74 billion in 2004, an increase of 35.7% over the previous year and 2.3 times of the whole-year trade volume in 2001. In other words, China's foreign trade volume has more than doubled since China's entry to World Trade Organization three years ago. In 2004, China's imports and exports volumes both surpassed US$500 billion, with exports volume reaching US$593.36 billion, an increase of 35.4%, and imports volume US$561.38 billion, an increase of 36%. The whole-year trade surplus reached US$31.98 billion.

General Information of Imports and Exports of China Unit price: billion US$

B-IV. China's Imports & Exports of Hi-tech Products

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, China's imports and exports volume for high and new technology products reached US$326.97 billion in 2004, an increase of 42.4% over the previous year. Imports and exports volume for high and new technology products took up 28.3% of total foreign trade. Within this category, imports volume reached US$161.43 billion, taking up 28.8% of the country's imports, a decrease of 0.1% over the percentage at the end of 2003; and exports volume reached US$165.54 billion, an increase of 50.1% over the previous year and accounting for 27.9% of the country's total exports (an increase of 2.7% over the percentage at the end of 2003). The annual increase rate of high and new technology products imports and exports in 2004 surpassed that of the country's overall foreign trade by 6.7%. High and new technology products imports grew at roughly the same rate as the overall imports, while high and new technology products exports grew 14.1% faster than the overall exports, which contributed to 13% of the country's exports growth.

EU Becomes China's Biggest Trade Partner for High and New Technology Products; Imports & Exports Markets and Trade Surplus & Deficit Sources Concentrating on Related Regions
China's high and new technology products trade with the European Union in 2004 topped at US$54.96 billion, surpassing the trade volume of US$54.79 billion in this category with the United States . Therefore, EU became China's biggest trade partner for high and new technology products. Japan , ASEAN, and Hong Kong rank at the third, fourth and fifth place, with trade volumes of US$45.64 billion, US$43.54 billion, and US$40.31 billion respectively.

angtze River Delta Overtakes Pearl River Delta in High and New Technology Products Exports; Imports and Exports Volumes in Twenty Key Cities of “Reviving Trade with Science & Technology" Surpass US$100 Billion for First Time

In 2004, high and new technology products exports in the Yangtze River Delta comprising Jiangsu, Shanghai and Zhejiang reached US$68.7 billion, taking up 41.5% of the region's total exports and representing a 4% increase over the percentage at the end of 2003. Of that, exports in Jiangsu reached US$35.94 billion, an increase of 57.1%; and exports in Shanghai reached US$28.89 billion, an increase of 76.4%. High and new technology products exports in the Guangdong, part of the Pearl River Delta, surpassed US$60 billion for the first time, reaching US$66.46 billion, up 38.0% and accounting for 40.1% of the total (decreased by 3.6% over the percentage of late 2003).

In 2004, imports and exports volume of high and new technology products in twenty key cities of “Reviving Trade with Science & Technology" reached US$230.32 billion, taking up 70.4% of their total foreign trade volume. Specifically, high and new technology products imports in these cities reached US$119.48 billion, taking up 74.0% of their total imports; and high and new technology products exports in these cities reached US$110.84 billion, taking up 67.0% of their total exports. Among these cities, high and new technology products exports in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Suzhou ranked at the top three places, with exports volumes in the three cities reaching US$35.06 billion, US$28.89 billion, and US$16.84 billion respectively.

B-V. Shanghai GDP increased by 13.6 percent in 2004

Chinanews, Jan. 26 - In 2004, Shanghai's economy maintained a high growth rate. According to the audit of the National Bureau of Statistics of China, Shanghai's GDP totaled 745.027 billion Yuan last year. Adjusting for change in price levels, Shanghai's GDP increased by 13.6 percent compared with last year, creating the record growth level since 1996 and keeping double-digit growth rate for 13 years in a row. The added value of secondary industries reached 378.822 billion Yuan, increasing by 14.9 percent, while the added value of tertiary industries was up to 356.534 billion Yuan, increasing by 12.9 percent.

Suburban agriculture production continued its steady growth. The Gross Agricultural Product totaled 25.521 billion Yuan for the year while the Gross Grain Product totaled 1,062.9 thousand tons, increased by 7.7 percent, surpassing the target of 1,000 tons at the beginning of the year.

Industrial production persistently grew at high rates, with an added value of 349.289 billion Yuan, 16.1 percent more than last year. Gross Industrial Product was up to 1,401.751 billion Yuan, increasing by 20.3 percent.

The growth rate of tertiary industries accelerated remarkably, with an increase of 12.9 percent in added value for the year. Growth rate increased 4.9 percentage compared with the previous year, the best level of increase since 2001.

C. All in print China 2006 Update

C-I. General Information

Full name:	China International Exhibition for All Printing Technology & Equipment
Date:	14-17, June 2006
Venue:	Shanghai New International Expo Center (SNIEC)
Website:	www.allinprint.com
Registration Deadline:	15 January 2006

C-II. Contact

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