China Overtakes US As World's Biggest IT Supplier - OECD
--China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest exporter of a broad category of electronic goods including computers, mobile phones and digital cameras, the OECD said Monday.
The report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development marks a milestone in China's diversification from low-tech textile sweatshops into sophisticated electronics factories.
Chinese exports of information and communications technology goods rose by 46% year-on-year to $180 billion in 2004, outstripping U.S. exports of $149 billion, 12% higher than the previous year.
China's positive trade balance in tech products almost tripled to $31 billion last year from $12 billion in 2003. The country first became a net exporter of such goods just a year before that, recording a 2002 surplus of $3 billion.
Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, the report's author, said it highlighted China's steady rise up the value chain - from televisions, stereos and other low-margin electronic goods to expensive hi-tech equipment.
China's booming trade surplus in PCs and laptops stood at $45.4 billion last year, the new data showed, and its overall trade in ICT goods has grown an average 38% per year since 1996. China also overtook Japan as the main exporter of such goods to the United States last year.
European and U.S. mobile phone and PC producers have been investing heavily in China, and Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. acquired the PC operations of International Business Machines Corp. for $1.75 billion in May.
China still depends heavily on imports for the microchips and circuit-board components it needs to feed its booming hardware manufacturing industry, the OECD report said. China's overall trade deficit in components swelled to nearly US$62 billion last year.
But Europe and the United States are seeing their share of that parts trade shrinking, the report added, and America now enjoys only a "very small surplus" in components.
"To manufacture laptops and advanced mobile phones, China previously relied on electronic components, such as computer chips, imported from the EU and United States," it said.
These are now being increasingly sourced from countries like Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Malaysia, which all have major tech goods trade surpluses with China as a result.
中国超过美国成为全球最大的信息科技产品供应商
经济合作与发展组织(OECD)周一表示，中国已经超越美国成为包括电脑、手机、数码相机在内各类电子产品的全球最大出口商。
这份由总部设在巴黎的经济合作与发展组织所发布的报告对于中国来说具有里程碑式的意义，这标志著中国成功地实现了多元化生产，从一个科技含量较低的廉价纺织品加工地发展为对技术水平要求更高的电子消费品生产国。
中国2004年信息科技通讯产品的出口较上年增长46%，至1,800亿美元，超出同期美国信息科技产品1,490亿美元的出口总额，美国2004年信息科技产品出口较上年增长了12%。
与2003年的120亿美元相比，中国科技产品贸易顺差几乎增长了两倍，至310亿美元。中国在2002年成为纯粹的科技产品出口国，当年的科技产品贸易顺差为30亿美元
编写这份报告的作者Sacha Wunsch-Vincent表示，报告凸现了中国在高科技产品价值链上的稳步上升，从最初的电视机和立体声音响等低利润产品发展成为售价昂贵的高科技产品生产商。
最新数据显示，中国2004年台式和笔记本电脑的出口顺差总计454亿美元，自1996年以来，其信息通讯科技产品的对外贸易额以年均38%的速度递增。中国在2004年还超过日本成为对美国出口上述产品的主要国家。
欧美手机和个人电脑制造商一直以来都在对中国进行大力投资，而中国的电脑制造商联想集团有限公司(Lenovo Group Ltd., 简称：联想集团)也在今年5月斥资17.5亿美元收购了国际商业机器公司(International Business Machines Corp.)旗下的个人电脑业务。
经济合作与发展组织在报告中指出，中国在硬件制造领域仍严重依赖于对微处理晶片和电路元件的进口。中国去年电子元件的贸易逆差上升至近620亿美元。
与此同时，欧美在电子元件市场的占有率则呈下降趋势，报告补充说，美国的电子元件贸易顺差已经降至非常低的水平。
报告指出，中国以往对笔记本电脑和高档手机生产所需的电子元件主要依赖于从欧盟和美国进口。但如今中国已经越来越多地从台湾、韩国、日本和马来西亚采购这些元件，从而导致这些经济体对中国的科技品贸易顺差日益扩大。
