(Ecns.cn)--In the context of globalization, no country today is immune to the gloomy outlook forecast for the world economy. China's outwardly-oriented enterprises are facing a series of problems, including order transfers, trade conflicts, financing difficulties, and so on.
China's Pearl River Delta（PRD）in particular feels the chill of a widespread slow down. Enterprises here have begun to find new business opportunities to ensure their survival, reports Economic Information.
"Since the second half of 2011, almost every month we have seen our normal growth of import and exports slide back a little bit." says a source from the Guangdong Foreign Economy and Trade Office.
The head of a Dongwan clothing factory says corporate sales saw a decrease of about thirty percent in the first ten months of this year. Buyers used to place orders for 30,000 to 40,000 items, but now one order might contain 5,000 or even a mere 1,000 items.
Many foreign businessmen are transferring their clothing orders to India and Bengal where the cost of labor and land are relatively cheap and people speak English. And shoe giant Nike switched its major base of manufacturing to Vietnam in 2011.
The shrunken order is just one facet of the plight foreign trade enterprises find themselves trapped in. Enterprises concentrating on the European and U.S. markets are vulnerable to fluctuating exchange rates and trade protectionism; ceramics, toys, and LED industries are at the top of the blacklist.
The RMB appreciation is another factor killing already declining profits, a department manager in charge of LED products told Economic Information. He says, "The RMB keeps appreciating while foreign clients insist on the same purchase price. Our exports used to account for 40 percent of the total output value, but now the exporting share has shrunk to less than ten percent."
In 2011, European and U.S. markets began to raise the thresholds on technology and environmental protection standards that rebuffed Chinese ceramics, toys and other popular export items. In September, the EU imposed an anti-dumping duty that had a significant impact on the majority of Foshan ceramic enterprises - a tax rate of 69.7 percent for a period of five years. Foshan ceramic exports were reduced by 50 percent, estimates Lan Weibin, a Foshan office director from China Ceramics Association, and he says what is worse is that Argentina and Peru have followed suit.
An industry insider says banks under financial strain are resorting to tightening credit, so small and medium enterprises in particular have more trouble finding financing than ever before. Short of money, they slow down the pace of their development. For instance, a digital machinery company planned to develop a new program but can't get a bank loan, so has delayed it for half a year.
The foreign trade situation is as severe now as was the financial crisis in 2008, many enterprise leaders comment. Many outwardly-oriented businesses are exploring new markets.
"The ASEAN market has great potential." says Chen Xiaolian, the general manager of a Foshan ceramic company. In September his company registered itself in a Vietnam industrial fair centered on building materials and got a good sales for their trouble.
Compared with developed countries, it is easier for Chinese products to build brand recognition and soak up a reasonable share of the ASEAN market, concludes Wu Yulin, general manager of a Foshan lamp factory. Wu says his company will go to expos held in Russia and Hong Kong, and make contact with potential clients in these emerging markets too.
According to the Guangdong Foreign Economy and Trade Office, from January to October Guangdong's exports and imports experienced higher growth in the newly-emerging markets than that in traditional markets. During this period, Guangdong's exports and imports jumped 28.5 percent in Latin America, 32.5 percent in the Middle East and 71 percent in Africa.
