The annual conference of China Chamber of International Commerce was held on Tuesday in Beijing. Participants at the conference said Chinese export enterprises are facing unprecedented difficulties of shrinking demands.

However, business insiders believe the financial crisis may bring an opportunity for Chinese enterprises to transform their development mode and optimize industrial structures. Our reporter He Fei has more.

Reporter: Wan Jifei, chairman of the China Chamber of International Commerce, says according to historical experiences, some relatively weak enterprises will be ousted from the market. And those who survive the crises will have to go through a structural optimization and technological upgrade.

"If the enterprises could seize the opportunity amid the difficult time with an original vision and creative thoughts, and therefore speed up the process of self-reliant innovation and structural adjustment, they could succeed in defending themselves against the crises. They will be able to raise their economic competence and take the pre-emptive opportunities in the next round of economic development."

Some Chinese enterprises have already found shortages in operation and investment, and worked out new development strategies in the industrial reshuffle.

Feiyue Group, the country's leading sewing machine producer and distributor, sells its products to more than 130 countries and regions in the world. But recently, the lack of demand in Europe and America has cut short the group's capital chain.

In the face of the crisis, the group made adjustments to its development strategies and minimized its assets scale. The move reduced the debt and improved its distribution network.

Qiu Jibao, board chairman of the group, says Feiyue has seized a great opportunity.

"At present, the central and local governments all hope enterprises could have sound development. The price of raw materials is about one-third of those in the first half. What's more, the exchange rate of yuan has kept rising in the first half, and is now stable."

Participants at the meeting believe China's long-term export-dependent economy grows at the cost of cheap labour and high energy consumption. But this kind of growth has come to a bottleneck.
They suggest Chinese enterprises to invest in research and development, making technology and branding as new driving forces in economic competitiveness.