Source: Yiwu sourcing agent Author: Date: 2009-09-22
Chinese manufacturers are turning to the Middle East as their more established buyers in Europe and the United States cut their spending. Yuan Chun is illustrative of the change. He has a shop in one of Dubai' sretail malls.He used to sell mainly blue porcelain to European clients . But he recently switched his stock for red porcelain. His European clients have dried up. His Arab and African clients, are still buying, but prefer brighter colours.
It is not only Chinese traders driving the change . The Chinese city of Yiwu,a short-drive from Shanghai, is a virtual Arab market town. There are over a dozen Arabic restaurants in its main street and the city receives 200 , 000 Arab visitors annually . It is a Mecca for Arab traders searching for low-cost goods popular among consumers back home .In China, it was traders from Zhejiang province, famed for their entrepreneurial spirit, who first set off in search of opportunities in Dubai and other Arab capitals . In the Middle East, it was traders from Yemen' s Hadramawt region who firstarrivedin Yiwu inlarge numbers.
The Hadramis, situated on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, have sailed Asia's oceans for centuries to trade. It is a very human story about people hoping to make a new life for themselves . But whereas they once looked to Europe of the United States to fulfil that dream, a growing number are turning to their nearer neighbours . Their decision is testi mony to what is a historic rebalancing of the global economy and the gradual rise of the Silk Road economies .
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