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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2007 
Chinese-Made Goods Popular With Mexican Consumers
 Pedro Saldana Maurice - Xinhua
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Mexico City - "I am buying this set of dishes because they are cute and seasonal," said Maria de la Luz Vega, a housewife who was buying Chinese-made dishes as a Christmas present.
As this merry festival is drawing near, a majority of Mexicans are making the same decisions like Maria, choosing Chinese-made products as presents for their beloved ones.
New parents are no exception. In a branch of Sam's Club, married couple Sandra and Gabriel bought a Graco-brand swing and a stroller, both with buttons for babies to listen to entertaining sounds.
"We like the functions. They look strong and high-quality," Sandra told Xinhua.
The craze for Chinese products can also be felt from traders' point of view.
"Ninety percent of the Christmas goods we stock are Chinese-made and people will buy everything. People are attracted by them and they buy," said Eduardo Toscano, manager of a Chedraui supermarket branch in Mexico City's upscale neighborhood of Polanco.
"People come and buy what they lack: products for home or office. In most cases they do not pay attention to whether it comes from the United States or China," said Pedro Mijangos, a branch manager of the chain supermarket Gigante, in Cuitlahuac of the capital city.
The increasing demand for Chinese products has much to do with the prospering Chinese economy. Chinese products have registered an ever-growing presence in Mexican households, a situation felt with greater intensity in the last month of the year as the holiday season arrives, store owners said.
They dominate in areas like toys, clocks, decorations, video games, hair dryers and water dispensers, all of which are being bought by an ever-swelling group of Mexicans.
Some shoppers, however, remain alert to potential quality problems some cheap Chinese products may have.
In a branch of Wal-Mart, shopper Victor Bernal aired such a view, saying: "I am a bit suspicious because a while back I bought a screwdriver that did not last," he said.
What he said reflected some customer concerns, to which Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang responded on July 3, saying that the Chinese government pays great attention to the quality and safety of export products.
China adopts a responsible attitude to the production, transport, export, regulation and oversight of its export products, fully dedicated to guaranteeing their quality, he said.
Qin said that between 2004 and 2006, 99 percent of Chinese products met the quality standards of their destination markets, beating similar statistics of U.S. exports to China. Some isolated cases where shoddy products were reported by the media should not smear the image of all Chinese goods, he stressed.
Despite an overwhelming presence of Chinese products in Mexico, the country's imports of Chinese goods, with a value of 24.438 billion U.S. dollars, account for barely 2.5 percent of China's total products, according to figures by the Mexican Economy Ministry.
Mexican officials, therefore, call for closer trade cooperation with China.
Cristina Massa Sanchez, economic advisor in the ministry's International Trade Practice Unit, said: "More than being seen as a danger for Mexico, trade relations with China should be regarded as an opportunity for Mexican investors. China is a growing market and the business community can benefit from the large number of opportunities the country offers."
Ruth Zavaleta, head of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, or the lower house of parliament, told a visiting Chinese delegation in November that Mexico should boost relations with the Asian giant and learn from its experience and successful development model.
Senator Yeidkol Polevsky echoed this view, saying bilateral cultural and tourism exchanges should also be promoted.
Editor: Du Guodong |
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