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As a large country with 7.69 million sq.km， is Australia avast market for Chinese products such as cars and sometraditional arts and crafts as people expect9 With suchquestions bear in mind， China's Foreign Trade interviewed Mrs.Liu Bing， Commissioner of The Australian Trade Commission(Austrade). Let's hear what she said.

About Car Industry in Australia

The Australian car industry is relatively small， and has totally84 motor vehicle manufacturing industry players nation wide in2003 and 2004. The total value of the motor vehicle production inAustralia in 2004 is 405，314 vehicles， which is 0.7% less than 2003.

Basically Australian car industry is a mature industry. It liststhe No. 3 car ownership per capita in the world~C each familyowns one to two cars. Since late1990s to now， the market demandhas grown gradually. In 2003-2004 financial year， the domesticdemand was estimated to has grown 44.3%. to a value of aroundAU$17 billion.

There was an increase in the components export. For 31% ofthe cars produced locally was exported to the overseas market.

There are four major car manufacturers dominating the Austra-lian market ~C Holden， Ford， Toyota， and Mitsubishi. They pro-duce 66% of the total car manufacturing volume. Last year， the carsimported to Australia had increased 5.4% to AU$14.5 billion. Thecountries where the cars mainly from: Japan 55.4%， Korea 7.5%，Germany 12.3%， US 4.8%， and Thailand 6.4%.

The life cycle of Australian car industry is dedicated to domes-tic and world economic cycle. When the economy goes booming，the car sales increase. At the moment， the economy is quite good.so people tend to buy new cars.

New products such as environment-friendly vehicles will de-velop due to legitimate pressure. People's taste is quite mature. Theydon't change significantly. New models are based on old modelsand made a few changes. New technology is basically environment-friendly ~C less fuel， solar power， electricity， innovation to reducethe emission. In 2003， we adopted the European standard， and it'svery high.

Australian companies mainly produce large cars for comfort，and more power. For Australia has a large area and enough parkingspace， and people need to travel long distance， so they need com-fort and more power. So the market for imported cars may be themedium and small cars. If you sell large cars to Australia， you mustcompete with the domestic car makers.

The import policy is very simple. Australia is a very open countrywith globalized economy. In 1988. the quota for motor vehicle im-port has been abolished. Ever since then， there was a significantincrease in imported cars. Also， there's a further decrease of tarifffrom15% in 2004 to 10% for fully imported vehicles. Apart fromthis， there's not many other restrictions on import.

Overall， imports in 2002 accounted 60% of total volume ofvehicle sales. And 25% car components are imported

The total amount of the cars sold was 955，229 in 2003， withpassenger vehicles increasing to 589，985 units， SUVs to 173.087units， light trucks to 163.676 units and heavy trucks to 28，481 units.In 2004， Toyota led the market with 21.1% followed by Holdenwith 18.6%， Ford with 14.2% and Mitsubishi with 6.0%. In 2002.new car sale was 824，000.2003 has a significant increase.

The market trend will be in the new technology， like using lessfuel， less aluminum， more environment-friendly. The export andimport trend is increasing. Australia basically import micro cars，and large cars are always locally produced.

For China's companies， components may be an opportunity.

About China Arts and Crafts

Similarly， there are not many restrictions on arts and crafts.Arts and crafts are very related to culture. China is a hot topic now，so people are interested in China. So it's a good opportunity. How-ever， you must think about how do you target your market， whatkind of arts and crafts would the market want? Every year， there aretwo or three exhibitions in some Australian major cities. If you wantAustralians to have interest in those arts and crafts， there must besome linkages between Chinese culture and western culture.

If Chinese arts and crafts want to have market in Australia.something must be mentioned. First. they must have good quality.Second. they must have something new every year. then they canappeal to people. Last. they must have something related to culture.and can bring some value to the house.

Exhibition must be focused on culture， and the level must behigh.

Organisation overview

The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) is the AustralianGovernment?agency that helps Australian companies win overseasbusiness for their products and services by reducing the time. costand risk involved in selecting， entering and developing internationalmarkets.

The mission of Austrade is to contribute to community wealthby helping more Australians succeed in export and internationalbusiness.

Austrade is represented in 117 locations in 58countries?including an extensive domestic network throughoutAustralia. Austrade offers practical advice， market intelligence andongoing support (including financial) to Australian businesses look-ing to develop international markets. Austrade also provides adviceand guidance on overseas investment and joint venture opportuni-ties， and helps put Australian businesses in contact with potentialoverseas investors.

Austrade is a statutory authority within the Foreign Affairs andTrade?portfolio.?Austrade is governed by a board， whose mem-bers are drawn from business and government.?It reports to theMinister for Trade.