China's Ministry of Commerce says multinational companies and joint ventures in China have made massive donations to the quake-hit regions, and it's not justified to blame them for not contributing enough.

The ministry notes while mobilizing resources to help relief work, the government at central and local levels are making every effort to revive commercial activities in the quake regions. Meanwhile, the ministry also says the increasing demand of emergency supplies in Sichuan is not expected to affect China's overall export performance. CRI's Zheng Chenguang, reports.

Reporter:

China's Ministry of Commerce says last week's 8-magnitude earthquake has affected over 50,000 shops and enterprises in the major quake areas.

Direct economic losses from the earthquake in the country's commercial sector have reached over 20 billion yuan, or over 2.5 billion US dollars.

China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming says facing such a situation, the ministry is taking care of two things first.

"First of all, we will mobilize resources all over the country to ensure that major supplies will not run out of stock in Sichuan. Secondly, we will revive the shops and enterprises as quickly as possible. We hope to restore all of them above the county level by the end of this month. Our current priority is to send in emergency supplies to the towns and villages, where people need them the most."

The ministry is also actively organizing donation activities in the international community, collecting relief aid totaling 20 million US dollars from a dozen countries and international organizations.

Chen Deming says many China's domestic enterprises are willing to offer relief supplies free of charge while other supplies were also purchased below normal market prices.

He also says the large demand for emergency supplies has not affected China's exports. And domestic manufacturers will make appropriate production adjustment to achieve their export goals.

"China is such a large country which has much space to get around. So far, the earthquake has not affected China's exports. But there are exceptions. For example, quake victims are in desperate need of tents. We appealed to enterprises to satisfy the needs of the relief efforts first."

Sichuan is one of China's major agriculture production bases. The commerce minister says as the earthquake took place in the mountainous regions in the province, it is not expected to have a significant impact on the supply of China's agricultural products.

The commerce minister also appreciated the support offered by foreign companies in China, whose donations have so far amounted to about 2 billion Yuan.

Zheng Chenguang, CRI News.