Chinese construction firms woo Mideast opportunities

DUBAI - Despite increased competition in the booming Gulf Arab construction market, Chinese representatives told Xinhua at The Big 5, the biggest annual Middle East construction fair which started on Monday, that they still see potential for more business in the region.

According to Citigroup, the value of construction projects underway or in the pipeline in the six Gulf states has reached $1.67 trillion. Mega cities and skyscrapers are built on desert spots and man-made islands to prepare for the time when oil runs out one day.

In Saudi Arabia alone, there is an excess demand for five million homes, and Chinese firms are keen on grabbing a share from the growing cake, although competition is huge, said Zee Qian, international sales manager at Wuxi Weihua Machinery Company from Wuxi city, Jiangsu province.

Speaking at the annual exhibition, Qian said the firm exhibited at the fair for the second time. "We have no office yet in Dubai, but this can change soon as opportunities in the Middle East are huge although the segment for machines for constructions materials is most competitive," he said. While Wuxi Weihua Machinery has already clients in the region, "we find The Big 5 Fair very useful to market our products and we had a good amount of visitors and potential clients here on day one."

Wuxi Weihua Machinery is one of 594 Chinese firms at this year's four-day fair.

Vivian Song, overseas regional manager at elevator producer Winone Elevator Corporation in Foshan city, Guangdong province, said that Winone was exhibiting for the first time at the Big 5. " We won a deal in the Arabian city project in Dubai and we would like to expand in the region. But we must do more brand awareness as our elevators are not only better in price but also in quality, as we think," said Song.

She added that exporting elevators was not that easy as sometimes countries ask for different certificates in relation to voltage used to operate a lift or in relation to security.

Leading elevator makers like Swiss Schindler group, Thyssen- Krupp from Germany or Japan's Mitsubishi are controlling the market for lifts in the Gulf Arab region. Winone plans to list its shares at the Hong King stock exchange in two years, the legal steps for an initial public offering have already been taken.

Iris Wu, sales person at Good Use Hardware Company from Kaohsiung city in Taiwan, China, which is at the fair for the third time, said her firm was aware of rivalry but "fixing glue for the construction industry is based on our unique patent in the sector and we want to use The Big 5 to tell this to potential customers."

Chinese firms do not only plan to rival the market for housing, industry machinery and pipeline construction, some of them also aim to come up with innovation.

"We found out that houses in the Gulf region mostly have floors out of marble or stone, so we see a market niche for floors out of bamboo," explained Landy Fan, sales representative at Bamboo innovator Dasso from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. So far, Fan said, Dasso has only clients in Qatar and Egypt but Dasso aims to spread its businesses to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"You have to be courageous and you have to be aware of the risks you take," said George Wan, CEO of Metco Middle East Trading and Rental from Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Metco has a presence in Dubai for over three decades and went through all the ups and downs in the Middle East. "You have to think partnership and in this point the Arab and Chinese business culture is very similar," said Wan.

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