Manufacturers and foreign-trade companies in Shanghai are encouraged to focus on technology, branding, quality and services to upgrade China's export capability, according to initiatives embodied in the blueprint of the Shanghai free trade zone.

The plan, issued by the State Council on Friday, said that the manufacturing industry should move up the value chain more quickly in face of global competition.

"The concept of the FTZ will also focus on financial trading and modern service sectors, which will encourage manufacturers to offer more value-added products and speed up the transformation and upgrading of companies," said Lin Weici, president of Shanghai NewLAN Co Ltd.

Lin added that in order to meet the increasing demand from overseas, small and medium-sized enterprises must produce well-designed goods of higher quality and with innovative technology.

To benefit from FTZ policies, Lin is keen on setting up an office in the zone.

"Hopefully, we will be offered more chances to work with global companies to learn from their technology and create branded products to attract more orders from abroad," Lin said.

Lin added that most SMEs are looking forward to having a mature financial platform for private capital to make investments and for enterprises to obtain a wider range of financial services.

In addition, offshore trading business will be supported in the zone.

Tang Xiaojie, president of Orient International (Holding) Co Ltd, a Shanghai-based export-import company, is enthusiastic about the prospects.

"We plan to launch a platform in the FTZ to develop offshore trading businesses with overseas suppliers and buyers to minimize the labor and transport costs for our customers," Tang said.

Having a platform in the zone, Orient International will be able to buy raw materials and electronic parts from countries such as Japan and Germany and sell them to manufacturers in Vietnam with lower labor costs.

Tang added that offshore trading along with other related policies will benefit most local export-import companies by offering a larger range of businesses under one international platform.

Experts also said the plan will benefit foreign trade firms.

yuran@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 10/02/2013 page15)