The World Expo 2010, to be held in Shanghai, is generating increased need for equipment leasing services. The city is encouraging the development of the sector in which China lags far behind western countries, a city official said yesterday. "Shanghai will take advantage of the World Expo to accelerate its development of equipment leasing services," said Liu Weidong, an official with the Shanghai Economic Commission. "The many construction projects for the World Expo and its exhibitions need quality equipment leasing services as it's too costly for some contractors to buy large equipment which they could find useless after the project," he said. Promoting the concept of equipment leasing is a top priority as the industry is just in its infancy and few manufactures and equipment users have been accustomed to leasing equipment, industry insiders said. "Domestic companies prefer to buy instead of renting large equipment even though they may have to pay a large sum for the purchase of equipment with relatively low usage rate," said Qu Yankai, vice secretary-general with Shanghai Rental Trade Association. "It's probably due to Chinese people's traditional belief that its better to use one's own property than others," he said. Such thought has largely hampered the development of many small- and medium-sized companies as they usually can't afford to buy equipment with heavy costs, said Yu Kaiqi, president of Shanghai Golden Coast Rental Co Ltd. To expand people's acceptance of leasing, the city government has organized a leasing show, the first of its kind in city, next month, city officials said. The 2004 China (Shanghai) International Equipment & Leasing Exhibition will run from June 10 to 12 at Shanghai East Asia Exhibition Hall located near the Shanghai Stadium. A leasing market forum will go along with it, its organizers said yesterday. World leading equipment leasing service providers such as the General Electric Co and Caterpillar Inc will display their products at the show. The country, meanwhile, is working on a leasing service law, expected to be enacted within a few years, to regulate the market, Liu said. China's leasing market, though little developed, has grown fast in recent years, industry insiders said. China has nearly 1,000 rental companies posting revenues of more than 17 billion yuan (US$2 billion) last year, according to Shanghai Rental Trade Association. GE and Caterpillar have each set up wholly-owned firms in Beijing to provide equipment-leasing services in China. (eastday.com) (05/13/2004)