(AFP) Manufacturers should seek to tap the huge China market by catering to a rising group of nouveau riche, International Trade and Industry minister Rafidah Aziz said today.

Rafidah said there was a growing number of middle- and higher-income earners among China's 1.3 billion population who had developed a taste for higher-end, branded imported products.

"We in Malaysia can take advantage of that market. We are able to produce high quality garment, apparel, shoes and handbags with a good brand that can be attractive to the nouveau riche Chinese," she told a news conference.

This way, she said local manufacturers can carve a niche market in China and need not compete with the lower-cost, mass produced goods made for the larger population.

Alliances

Rafidah also urged Malaysian companies to seek alliances with Chinese manufacturers in areas where China was developing its technologies.

She said there was no need for Malaysian companies to fear China as a "competitor that can kill us but as a complementary market and partnership in many areas."

Malaysia has recently mounted trade missions to China to tap new trade opportunities following China's entry to the World Trade Organization and ahead of its hosting of the 2008 Olympics.