Poland business gets a hand in tackling the dragon

A market of over a billion consumers, and an annual double-digit growth in consumption are tempting Polish companies to enter the Chinese market. However, many firms face problems with both registering as well as negotiating the country's complex tax system. Deutsche Bank China now wants to help Polish firms overcome the obstacles.

"Foreigners who want to invest in China should first learn the local regulations regarding company registration," says Cecelia Jiang, deputy president of Deutsche Bank China. "Tax planning is also important, because firms have to know how to benefit from the market. As Deutsche Bank, we provide financial consulting services. In addition to that, we provide value-added advisory services, so that the companies can be legally represented in China," she adds. Deutsche Bank has now begun cooperating with the Polish-Chinese Chamber of Commerce to make their services more available.

So far, Polish companies have invested only E128 (zł.488) million in China. Last year the value of Polish exports amounted to E562 (zł.2,141) million. Imports were 10 times higher, and reached E5.67 (zł.21.5) billion.

In comparison, German imports from China last year totaled E48.7 (zł.185.5) billion and exports to the country reached E27.5 (zł.105) billion.

According to Sylwester Szafarz, director general at the Polish-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, as many as 13,000 Polish companies import goods from China and only about 1,000 firms export their products there.

"KGHM is the biggest exporter to China, but we need to have more SMEs follow the copper giant. Currently, Poland takes one of the last positions among EU countries [when it comes to exporting to China]," adds Szafarz.

Polish firms are unlikely to be able to reduce the trade gap by themselves, however. "We need more promotion," says Szafarz. "In the Polish Embassy there are only two people in the trade department, while the Dutch have as many as 40 in theirs," he notes.