The World Chinese Business Advancement Association (WCBAA) has announced a decision to invest US$1 billion in Shanghai to help integrate the country's agriculture sector with the health care industry. Five cities and 50 towns will be chosen to build an industrial base.

A merger and acquisition plan involving 300 to 500 domestic corporations in the field of health care products is on the association's future agenda, in order to establish a giant health care co-operative effort.

With over 300,000 individual members from all over the world, the association is the biggest union of Chinese merchants.

As the first step in its strategy, the first Asia Pacific Health Products Expo and Economic Co-operation Conference is to be held in Shanghai from July 16-18.

Li Nonghe, president of the association said a lack of funds and applied technology in health care products plus an inefficient logistics system were three big problems in the sector.

China's health care market is experiencing sluggish growth after a 10-year-long boom beginning in the early 1990s.

Sales in 1999 peaked at 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) but dropped to 13.5 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) in 2002, according to the China Health Care Science and Technology Society.

But the society said the market was capable of booming again with potential gross sales of 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) in 2005.

Li Jian