Old friendship deepens, and the list of new friends grows... In the praise of “we’ve come right”, the 6th CIIE is coming to an end. Although the exhibition lasts only 6 days, the resulting and cooperation will always interpret new stories in the Chinese market.

In the next five years, China's total imports and exports of goods and services are expected to exceed 32 trillion dollars and 5 trillion dollars respectively. The CIIE is making China's big market a big opportunity for the world to share.

"Those who have come to the CIIE will come again"

How many kinds of beef can be tasted at the CIIE? Brands and processing plants in Argentina, Uruguay, Australia, New Zealand..have come to the Expo with their best products.

The staff of VISOM, an Argentine beef company, are busy receiving wave after wave of buyers and visitors, feeling the heat of CIIE. "This is our first time to the CIIE, and our goal is to meet Chinese customers and potential partners face to face and export more products to China." A staff member said that China is the main destination for Argentine beef exports, and Chinese customers bought 75% of Argentina's beef exports last year. The large platform of the Expo allows more beef manufacturers to compete to display their products.

Market is a scarce resource in today's world. Li Ruiqin, Secretary of Chinese Chamber of Commercial in New Zealand has a deep experience about it. "If there is any difficulty at the CIIE, it is that the booth numbers are so limited." The Chinese Chamber of Commercial in New Zealand has organized New Zealand enterprises to participate in the CIIE since the first one, and this year their 24 CIIE quota and 450 square meters of booths were quickly "robbed up". "In the past two years, we have a feeling that anyone who has been to the CIIE will not be absent afterwards." Li Ruiqin said.

In the view of many exhibitors, the CIIE can help "grow" new businesses. The Swiss testing and certification body, Standard Technical Services Co., LTD., launched new services such as gold label certification and hydrogen label identification at the CIIE. In recent days, the signing of agreements, negotiations and cooperation continue. "I met a lot of new and old customers, and a busy, friendly and open CIIE atmosphere came to my face." Hao Jinyu, president of China SGS-CSTC Standers Technical Service Co., LTD., said.

Through the CIIE, the number of investment projects of SGS Co., Ltd. in China is increasing year by year. At the first CIIE in 2018, the company reached a cooperation intention with the Zhoushan Quality and Technology Supervision and Testing Institute, and set up a Zhoushan branch in the second year; In 2022, the joint laboratory with Zhoushan Quality and Technology Supervision and Testing Institute was successfully put into use; In 2023, it settled in Zhoushan High-tech Industrial Park inspection and testing public service platform...... "These are the businesses that 'grow' out of the CIIE." Hao Jinyu says.

Strolling through the CIIE booths, an "unfinished" stand aroused the curiosity of many visitors. It turns out to be an creative show by the Japanese company MUJI, and the booth needs the audience to complete the final construction and reveal the full picture of the booth. This time, MUJI brings two new products designed especially for the CIIE by world-renowned designers, showing full sincerity.

It is known that China is MUJI's largest market outside Japan, with 385 physical stores in China, and more than 5,000 kinds of local designed and developed goods. "Taking the CIIE as an opportunity, we will carry out more down-to-earth, deeper and lasting operations in China." "Said Tianyi Shao, chief marketing officer of MUJI China.

Global buying, global manufacturing, "feel full of harvest"

Confirm the specifications, put forward the quantity of goods, get the seller's quotation, at the booth of an Iranian food company booth that is mainly engaged in pistachios, a Chinese buyer is holding a mobile phone, a pen and paper to negotiate with body language. The lack of fluency in language does not affect the enthusiasm of doing business. Both sides know how to get the information they want in a few back-and-forths.

The buyer, Sun Dan, is the marketing manager of Shanghai Weiwen Trade Development Co., LTD. This time, the purpose of Sun Dan to the CIIE is very clear: to purchase nut products. "(I’m now) clear of nut raw materials, size specifications, processing technology, for the next step I’d like to contact the sellers and get more samples, and choose the best to place orders." After several sessions of the CIIE, Sun Dan found that the quality of exhibiting goods has been improved, the number of manufacturers and the quality of goods brought have gone up, and the friendly attitude is not to mention. "for this time, I made 'connect' with more potential suppliers, and the outcome is quite good."

Buying high-quality global goods, Chinese buyers have demonstrated the purchasing power of the big market with practical actions.

On the first day of CIIE, Hema signed cooperation agreements with 7 French companies such as Cassino and Gavottes, and it’s expected that the purchase of French goods will reach 3 billion yuan within 3 years. From king crab and Boston lobster to Thai coconut, Vietnamese cashews, Afghan pine nuts... Over the past few years, relying on the spillover effect of the CIIE, batches of previously uncommon imported goods have entered the Chinese market through Hema and become the daily consumer goods favored by the people.

Not only that, with the help of the CIIE, Hema's import business has also completed a triple jump from “globally buying” to the introduction of raw materials to “made in China”, and then to the layout of the global supply chain of “globally made”. “The annual Import Expo continues to bring us more opportunities and a wider vision. Hema will seize the opportunity to actively cultivate the local market with the global supply chain.” Says Yan Xiaolei, Hema’s chief financial officer.

Tmall International also dispatched a global investment team to the Expo site, and reached strategic cooperation with 100 new import brands, and jointly released more than 100 annual imported new products. Unilever's oral hair growth brand nutrafol, German professional skin care brand Babor, British online celebrity clothing brand House of CB, these new brands made their first show at the CIIE, and meanwhile launched out in the Tmall “double 11” shopping festival as well.

Not only that, the trading groups have more good news: Liaoning trading group held a Centralized Contract signing ceremony, with 6 Liaoning enterprises’ intending purchase amount exceeding 200 million yuan; Members of the Large Retail Purchaser Alliance of the Shanghai trading group have reached initial purchase intentions for 55 projects, with a total amount of about 3.5 billion yuan; State-owned central enterprises formed 98 trading groups to participate in the CIIE, and placed large orders in high-end equipment, cutting-edge technology, energy, medical equipment and other fields. “Successful ceremony, full of harvest!” the signing representatives says.

Share the world with China opportunities

The story of CIIE is far more than "buying" and "selling". At the scene, many multinational enterprises together with their Chinese market partners and the upstream and downstream enterprises appeared here to expand their industrial chain and supply chain cooperation, demonstrating the firm determination to take root in the Chinese market. In their words, "To come to China is to go towards development."

J&J, which has participated in the CIIE for 6 consecutive sessions, met with the audience for the first time this year with a new brand logo. At the 6th CIIE, nearly 1/3 of the more than 100 innovative products brought by J&J are the first show in China and even in the world. “For example, our medical technology business has brought a series of world-leading black technology treatment products for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, which are common to Chinese people.” For example, Song Weiqun, global senior vice president of J&J and chairman of the China region, said that a pulse and radio frequency dual-energy ablation catheter for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation completed its world debut at the CIIE. This catheter can significantly reduce the radiation exposure during surgery for both patients and doctors, making treatment more accurate.

“At present, the Chinese market has become an important global ‘development + innovation’ double engines for J&J. Our medical technology business is continuously strengthening local R&D, innovation, high-end manufacturing and collaboration capabilities through strategic upgrading in China.” Song Weiqun says.

These days, Yang Chen, director of P-Cure Medical Group and chairman&GM of SIHA Medical Technology Co., Ltd. received a batch of visitors from governments, enterprises and research institutions at the booth.

The Swiss Group P-Cure attends CIIE for the first time, bringing its subsidiary medical technology company SIHA to showcase an advanced radiotherapy equipment, the PPTS proton therapy system. This system has the characteristics of “affordable, space-saving, good-to-use”, making the previously extremely expensive proton therapy price-friendly. At present, the company has achieved its first purchasing contract domestically.

"Healthcare is a systematic project that needs to be carried out by many parties collaboratively, and that collaboration also supports our business development." Yang Chen says that the Chinese market has great potential, and the CIIE platform gives enterprises the opportunity to move forward with their partners.

Many companies are trying "different" things in the Chinese market. In addition to the debut of more than 40 new products from 24 brands at the CIIE, Shiseido also brought new contents such as "empty bottle renewal" service and replaceable jelly-core packaging technology to the Expo, attracting many visitors to line up to experience it. Among them, the replaceable jelly-core packaging technology allows replacing the liquid into the bottle instead of compressed air just through a simple step, meanwhile achieving the shaping and filling of plastic containers, reducing 70% of carbon dioxide emissions and 92% of plastic use. Many cross-industry visitors have also expressed their curiosity and interest in the new technologies and new applications.

"In the coming years, Shiseido Group will continue to invest, and build our second largest R&D center in the world in China, making China the first market for cutting-edge innovations." Rishi Umezu, President and CEO of Shiseido China, said that Shiseido has been in China for more than 40 years and has fully felt that China and the world are working towards the same goal and achieving mutual achievements. “More than 40 years ago, we came to China to invest; Today, we invest in China.”

Open the Chinese market to the world and let the world share China’s opportunities. The outcome of the “6-day” CIIE will continue to last for the rest of the “365 days”, and it will "never end", since the openness and cooperation will surge forward.

Article from the People's Daily (Overseas Edition) 2023.11.10（03）