A Bumper Crop of Firms in CIIE's Agriculture Zone

Agricultural products have likely never garnered as much attention at the China International Import Expo as they did this year. The event highlighted not only market reactions to the ongoing trade friction between China and the United States but also how developing countries are pursuing opportunities and fostering cooperation with China.

The exhibition area for agricultural and food products, themed "From Global Farm to China's Dinner Table," achieved a record scale, featuring over 2,000 participating companies from around the globe.

China's recent agreement to resuming soybean purchases and reduce tariffs on US agricultural products drew attention to the US Food and Agriculture Pavilion.

This year, the pavilion focused on specialty and value-added goods rather than bulk commodities. Despite trade uncertainty, small and medium-sized exhibitors signed nearly US$12 million in deals, up 5 percent from last year.

"Our pavilion provided valuable support to American small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to expand in or enter the Chinese market," said Eric Zhang, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

"With the largest pavilion and the highest number of exhibitors in our three years at the CIIE, we demonstrated that American companies remain committed to China. The agreement between the United States and China to suspend high tariffs for the next 12 months – announced just as the CIIE opened – helped generate a wave of positive sentiment throughout the expo."

The expo has featured the US Soybean Export Council every year for the past eight years.

"China is a single large market for the US soy, and we don't want to lose that market," said Jim Sutter, CEO of the council. "Last year China was about 39 percent of our total export of US soybeans, and it appears that the door is reopened, and we expect a better situation."

European companies are also grasping the opportunities to expand their Chinese market.

The Netherlands-based Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) showcased its specialty feed protein brand, Soyadoc, which brought a comprehensive portfolio of animal nutrition products that includes four globally launched product series: super fermented soybean meal, yeast enzymatic hydrolyzed protein, plant-based fishmeal protein and fortified phospholipids.

In 2022, LDC refined its strategy to move further downstream beyond core merchandising into food and feed solutions, and the company is confident in the exponential expansion of the Chinese consumer market over the next decade, anticipating over 800 million people joining the middle class.

"We view the domestic market, evidenced by our ongoing regional investments in Guangzhou and Tianjin. We believe that an increased domestic consumption will benefit organizations that build infrastructure in China to service consumers," said Michael Gelchie, CEO of LDC.

Italian dairy company Inalpi SpA participated in the expo for the second time. This year the northern Italian company showcased its industrial dairy portfolio, such as powdered milk, butter, cheeses, and dairy ingredients.

"The event served as an opportunity to build partnerships with leading Chinese dairy companies and retailers, seeking to create products tailored specially for the Chinese local market," said Ambrogio Invernizzi, president of the dairy producer.

Meanwhile, CIIE has also provided a chance for agricultural products from developing countries to find new markets in China.

At this year's CIIE, organizers expanded the original African Product Zone to establish an Asian-African Product Zone, which introduced high-quality agricultural and food products from the two continents.

As one of Africa's largest banking groups, the Standard Bank Group has organized African companies to participate in the CIIE for five consecutive years.

This year, the group partnered with 23 agricultural and food companies from over 20 African nations to showcase various agricultural products, including cashews, shea butter, wine, coffee, sesame, cassava, flowers and fruits.

Besides, Chinese investors in Africa were also seeking partners at the expo. Huang Sijie runs a farm named Hantitry Ny Saha Malagasy in Madagascar, which produces ingredients for making essential oils, perfumes, and other fragrance-related products.

At the expo, Huang brought products such as dried ylang-ylang flowers and vanilla beans, hoping to become suppliers to Chinese consumer goods manufacturers.

"Ylang-ylang flowers are so popular in the cosmetic industry, and they are widely grown in Madagascar," Huang said. "Madagascan vanilla is renowned around the world, and CIIE is the best platform for promoting our products back home." CIIE is the best platform that we can use to promote our products back home."

Huang said he also took some straw-plaited handicrafts to the expo seeking buyers.

"These articles are made of grasses and straws from our farm, and we hired local people to make them," he said. "This is a way to increase employment in Madagascar, which local people need very much now."