International retail giants Wal-mart, Carrefour and Metro have
told China's Ministry of Commerce that they are satisfied with the
quality of Chinese products, more than 99 percent of which meet
standards, ministry spokesman Wang Xinpei said on Thursday.
The qualification rate reached 100 percent of export Chinese
products purchased by US firm Wal-Mart, 99.5 percent by France's
Carrefour, and 99 percent by Germany's Metro. The products mainly
include cleaners, hardware and household appliances, textiles, toys
and food, retailer representatives said in a meeting with the
ministry.
The Carrefour representative acknowledged the efforts made by
Chinese government to guarantee product quality and food safety,
and said it increased confidence in Chinese products.
Carrefour purchased 59 billion yuan (7.86 billion US dollars)
worth of products in China last year, and planned to buy more. It
spent 36.2 billion yuan in the first half.
Metro's purchase, though smaller in value, grew significantly to
11.8 billion yuan in the first half, only 2.4 billion short of the
amount in the entire 2006.
"We have been purchasing from China for nearly 26 years," said
the Wal-Mart representative, "Chinese products are economic in
price and guaranteed in quality."
Wal-mart has located its global purchasing office in China.
Around half of the purchased products would be exported, said
the representatives.
(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2007)
