Representatives of major businesses, including Wuhan Bluestar Computer Co (武漢藍星電腦集團) and Wushang Bulksale Chain Co (武商量販公司), from central China’s Hubei Province, signed 35 procurement agreements with local businesses yesterday.
With Hubei Province aiming to become “China’s optics valley,” the purchases mainly involved electronic parts such as flat panels and LEDs.
Representatives from the Jointown Pharmaceutical Group (九州通醫藥集團), one of the top 500 businesses in China, said that Taiwan excels in biotech medicine and medical equipment, which was why the group signed a purchase deal worth US$15 million with a local biotech firm.
Jointown also expressed hope that it would be able to sell Chinese herbal medicines to Taiwan.
Delphi Hubei (雷米電機湖北) purchased nearly US$10 million worth of automotive electronic diodes from Taiwan’s Actron Technology Corp (朋程科技).
The buyers also included the Wuhan Zhongbai Group (武漢中百集團) and the Wuhan Zhongnan Commercial Group (武漢中商集團), whose purchases were focused on agricultural products and daily necessities.
Taiwanese businesspeople attending the purchase meetings recognized the importance of Hubei’s geographic location and expressed hope that they would be able to use the province as a stepping stone into the Chinese market.
A total of 36 manufacturers from Hubei Province took part in the procurement meetings.
Yang Fang (楊芳), an official of the Wuhan Hanshang Group (武漢漢商集團), said not many Taiwanese products were available in Wuhan City, the provincial capital, and that what is available is mainly sold in supermarkets.
Yang said it was her first procurement visit to Taiwan and she expressed particular interest in beauty care products such as red cypress essential oil, red cypress shampoo and facial masks because such products are uncommon in Wuhan and people generally have to go to beauty parlors to buy them.
She suggested that Taiwanese businesses establish agents in China to help Chinese buyers who want to discuss business with them.
The procurement meetings were part of the seventh Taiwan-Hubei (Wuhan) Week Cultural Exhibition, in which participants were hoping to expand commercial, technological, cultural and agricultural exchanges between Taiwan and central western China.
The exhibition opened in Taipei yesterday.
Luo Qingquan (羅清泉), secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Taiwan’s New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明), former Straits Exchange Foundation vice chairman Chiao Jen-ho (焦仁和), as well as Chinese painter Zhou Shaohua (周韶華) and Taiwanese artist Li Chi-mao (李奇茂) attended the opening ceremony.
Luo was leading a 1,000-strong delegation from Hubei that arrived on Monday to enhance exchanges between Hubei and Taiwan.
The delegation is expected to make purchases worth more than US$500 million during the visit, organizers said.
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