CHINA’S central banker Zhou Xiaochuan said it would take at least a decade to shift the country’s economy away from its export-based model, and that Chinese exporters would hold tenaciously onto foreign markets.

    Zhou acknowledged the debate raging between countries about the global imbalances caused by some countries running large export surpluses, and said there was already a shift underway in China from manufacturing to services.

    “I think it is possible but it will take a long time,” he told a sideline of the G20 meetings of finance ministers and central bankers Friday.

    He said it involved not only retooling factories, but changing whole supply chains and retraining workers.

    “This kind of cycle is over a period of 10 years,” said Zhou.

    He said during this period Chinese manufacturers would likely continue to export and improve their productivity.

    Zhou said appreciation to date of the yuan had shown that Chinese manufacturers had been able to adjust and make productivity gains. “I think that means they have room to improve and survive,” he said.

    He said Chinese exporters had told the central bank that even with a rising yuan they would only shift around up to 20 percent output.

    “They say exports are still more profitable than the domestic market,” said Zhou.

    He said the country’s economy was already shifting more towards the service sector, saying that according to the most recent data only 10 percent of loans went to manufacturing compared to levels of over 50 percent in the 1990s.

    The trade surplus fell 53.5 percent to US$6.45 billion in January as exports and imports grew strongly ahead of the holiday, the General Administration of Customs in Beijing said.(SD-Agencies)