Kolkata: Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) on April 23 said it would target the growing sub-contracting market in the European Union (EU) countries estimated to be worth $ 323 billion.

"We have set an annual growth target of 20 per cent so as to reach a figure of $ 3000 million by 2007 from the current level of $ 1226 million," EEPC Chairman M C Shah told reporters in Kolkata.

Shah said to showcase Indian capabilities in the field, EEPC will be organising 'Indiatech', an exhibition of exclusively Indian engineering products at the International Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK between April 29 to May 2, 2002.

Indiatech would coincide with the world's largest international exposition in the field of sub-contracting, 'Subcon 2002', to be held at the same venue, he said.

More than 50,000 trade visitors from the EU and countries such as USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan were expected to visit the event.

"If we can attract even five per cent of the expected visitors, there will be considerable increase in trade," Shah said.

He said forced by the growing cost of production, a recent trend in Europe was to look for new low-cost manufacturing bases outside to enable industries to sub- contract part of their production, especially in the areas of castings and forgings accounting for about 14 per cent of the total industrial output of the EU.

PTI