A buzz has surrounded China over the last few years, with a plethora of opportunities available to Australian longwall equipment manufacturers and service providers if they play their cards right.

Holding most of the aces, or at least an organisation with a few tricks up their sleeve, is Austrade who have been advising Australian companies on the best approach to enter the market.

Austrade national mining manager Greg Carmody said the Expo will supply a good starting point for companies interested in growing their business into China.

“Anyone serious about tackling the Chinese market, especially for coal production, needs to be in Beijing for October,” Carmody said.

“This is the best opportunity to exhibit Australia’s capabilities, not just in equipment and management, but right across the board.”

Carmody hoped a contingent of up to 20 Australian companies would attend the expo this year, up on the 12 exhibiting last year.

Feedback given by last year’s attendants indicated the Expo was extremely worthwhile with existing opportunities to meet the right Chinese buyers.

Exhibitors at the Expo cover the full scope of underground mine development, equipment, transport and processing.

China offers incentives to attract foreign investment, including no royalties, no VAT, a two-year tax free holiday from the first year of profit and a 50 percent tax cut for six years thereafter in approved western provinces.

The expected increase in foreign investment in China’s resource development is predicted to open doors to the supply sector.

“The country’s economy is powering along at a great rate and Chinese companies are investing heavily to expand their domestic production,” Carmody said.

ABARE has predicted China’s coal production will continue to grow by 2.4% a year to 1.76 billion tonnes by 2015. Exports are expected to rise by 1% a year to reach 105Mt by 2015.

Already Australian companies that have shown interest in the past few years have had some pleasing results.

“There are lots of areas where if you have the right advice, things are quite manageable, but if you have the wrong advice things can get quite unproductive for you and the delays and failures can be very expensive,” he said.

“That is why as a general rule, anyone that is new to the country or wants to get new contacts in China should come to us at Austrade because we have many Chinese experts who are ready, willing and able to help. This applies especially to companies that have little or even no export experience.”

Austrade offer advice on how to do business in China, how to find worth while mining opportunities, how to prioritise them, how to meet the key decision makers in the major Chinese corporations and where to market company capabilities to.

Carmody said the most important key to doing business in China was to establish a good working relationship.

“You have to establish your own credibility and trust before the decision maker in a Chinese corporation will want to develop a long-term relationship with your company.”

Carmody said he saw opportunities existing for Australia in improving China’s appalling safety record. During the first quarter of this year, China’s coal mine death toll stood at 1,090.

Prospects in improving mining standards included mine operations, mine planning, mine communications and mine rescue.

Companies interested in participating in China Coal and Mining, and mine site visits organised by Austrade should register their interest by ringing 13 28 78, or by emailing info@austrade.gov.au