The Ministry of Economic Affairs has prepared a plan under which nearly NT$5.5 billion (US$175 million) would be spent assisting local factories in making high-quality, reasonably priced consumer products for sales to emerging markets, a trade official said yesterday.
The ministry briefed the Executive Yuan about the plan at a weekly meeting a day earlier, saying that it was initiated in an effort to explore the vast middle-class markets in emerging markets such as China, India and Indonesia.
The rise of middle-class consumers in these emerging markets has spurred consumption of premium and easily affordable products in the post-financial crisis era, Bureau of Foreign Trade chief secretary Chiang Wen-juo (江文若) said.
She said that in the first three months of this year, “our general exports grew by 52.2 percent on average, but exports to most emerging countries showed a rise of over 60 percent.”
“This shows that demand is very high in these countries,” Chiang said in an interview with Radio Taiwan International.
The official said that the middle class in many emerging countries is now a group of strong consumers who, although unable to afford the high-priced products that some European and US customers consume, nevertheless desire consumer items that give the impression of luxury, but at modest prices.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said in Thursday’s Cabinet meeting that emerging economic entities have begun to push global economic growth.
As an export-reliant country, Taiwan should target these markets in an effort to boost overseas sales of its high-quality, but fairly priced information communication products, he said after the ministry briefing.
Under the three-year plan, a budget will be allocated to help local businesses create 40 innovative products that are internationally competitive in terms of quality and price, establish five new international or regional brands and increase Taiwan’s exports to emerging countries by 30 percent before the end of 2012, the ministry said.
Efforts will also be made to promote Taiwan’s high-quality consumer products overseas through strategies that include building an international online shopping mall, organizing trade fairs in emerging markets such as China, India and Vietnam, and opening special zones at various business exhibitions held in Taipei to allow foreign buyers to source creative Taiwanese products, the ministry said.
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