The Shanghai Foreign Investment Association has published four lists of foreign-invested enterprises, ranking them according to sales revenue, import and export value, tax contributions and job creation. A total of 253 foreign-funded companies appeared on the four lists. Apple Computer Trading (Shanghai) Co was rated first on the revenue list, Tech-Com (Shanghai) Computer Co topped foreign companies in imports and exports, Porsche (China) Motors contributed most on the tax list, while Protek (Shanghai) offered the most jobs, according to Huang Feng, Chairman of the Association.
Up to 70 of the enterprises on the lists come from the U.S., followed by 33 from Japan and 30 from Germany. “Shanghai will continue to promote investment, optimize the business environment and build the eastern metropolis into a prime choice for global investors,” said Zhu Yi, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.
“Openness and foreign enterprises are important characteristics of Shanghai,” Zhu said. More than 60,000 foreign-invested enterprises in Shanghai contributed a quarter of the city’s GDP, two-thirds of its imports and exports, one-third in tax payments, and one-fifth of employment, making Shanghai one of the world’s most attractive destinations for foreign investment. Zhu described the China International Import Expo (CIIE), which has been held for the past five years and has reported an accumulated USD345 billion in intended transactions, as one of the most important platforms for foreign-funded enterprises entering the China market.
An example is BASF, a major foreign investor in the country’s chemical industry. It set up its first joint venture in China in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area back in the 1980s. Shanghai has become BASF’s China headquarters thanks to the continued investment and business growth for over three decades, said Lou Jianfeng, Chairman and President of BASF China. BASF operates Innovation Campus Shanghai, a global and regional research and development (R&D) hub in the city, the company said. Currently, China contributes more than 15% of BASF’s global business, but this figure is still below expectations as China is the biggest chemical market in the world, and will take up 50% of the world’s chemical market share by 2030. “BASF still has huge room for further growth in the country,” Lou said, as reported by the China Daily.
Multinational companies in different fields from robotics to chemical products are expanding their production facilities in the Chinese mainland, as they view plenty of business opportunities arising in the process of China's industry manufacturing upgrade, a key mission in the country's five-year plan between 2021-25. Switzerland-headquartered ABB opened a fully automated robotics company in Shanghai after several years of construction. The facility is 67,000 square meters in size, and combines both production and research, representing a total investment of USD150 million. The factory will produce 41 of the company's robotics products and 31 robot models, including six-axis robots and painting robots. “China is undergoing a transformation in industrial automation and is at the heart of a global market that we predict will be worth USD130 billion by 2025,” said Sami Atiya, President of the robotics and discrete automation business at ABB. According to Liang Rui, Director of ABB Robotics Division China, the company is speeding up its localization strategy in the country because Chinese companies have shown strong, continued demand for automation. On November 25, U.S. fiber and chemicals plant Invista also inaugurated a new adiponitrile plant in Shanghai with a total investment of over USD1 billion, the largest capital project in the company's history, the Global Times adds.
