Guo Yue, official with the Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Department of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that 90 percent of Guangxi's export markets are in the U.S., the European Union, Japan and Southeast Asia.

However, the world's economic slowdown has elevated the risk of Guangxi's exports.

She said that Guangxi will explore new markets in Africa, South America, Australia, Middle East, South Asia and Eastern Europe in the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005) to help deduct the risk.

The proportion of mechanic and electronic products in the export mix will increase by a large margin, while the processing of popular resource materials, such as talcum powder, barite powder, gum rosin and vegetables, needs to be intensified during the period, she said.

(Xinhua 05/13/2001)