China's growth presents opportunity for Latin America

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-01-04 14:55

China's economic growth presents an opportunity for Latin America, said a report of UN Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) on Wednesday.

The report said China became the fourth-largest economy in the world in 2005, replacing Britain and that China's share of the world trade volume has jumped from 1 percent to 6 percent in less than 20 years.

China has been the primary target of anti-dumping cases in recent years, the report pointed out, adding that many emerging economies harbored bias against China over its strong competitive edge from low labor costs, with some even blaming China for their poor exporting performance.

However, the report said China's enormous domestic market presents an opportunity to many countries, adding that Latin American countries will continue to benefit from China's economic growth and its ever-expanding domestic demand. Brazil's exports to China has quadrupled over the past four years, it added.

Meanwhile, the ECLAC stressed that there is no direct trade competition between China and Latin America in the U.S. market.

China's trade increase has little impact on Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia and Panama and China is a net importer of raw materials while Latin America is rich in natural resources.

Therefore, the report said China's economic growth and its integration in world trade would "obviously" benefit Latin America, the report added.


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