Event growing in size and influence over the years
Since its inaugural session in 2021, the China International Consumer Products Expo, held in Haikou, the capital city of the southern island province of Hainan, has provided a new platform for global enterprises to showcase their quality products and share the development opportunities brought by the Chinese market.
The expo is China’s first nationallevel exhibition with the theme of consumer goods and is the largest of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region.
The event has garnered great attention from the international business community since the first session was held in May 2021.
The first expo featured a total exhibition area of 80,000 square meters, including 60,000 sq m for international exhibitors in a variety of sectors including cosmetics, automobiles, food, cruise ships and garments.
A total of 70 countries and regions attended the four-day expo, and 2,628 brands under 1,505 enterprises from home and abroad participated in the exhibition. The expo also attracted more than 240,000 visits, including 30,000 professionals representing buyers from across the world.
In addition, more than 130 events relating to the release of new products, matchmaking between suppliers and buyers, as well as industrial promotions, were held at the inaugural session.
A great number of high-quality overseas consumer products, like coffee from Panama, olive oil from Spain and whisky from Ireland, have used the expo as a platform to enter the vast Chinese market, according to the event’s organizers.
It is worth mentioning that all the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China dispatched trade delegations to attend the expo.
Experts said the CICPE was targeted at boosting the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
China first proposed the establishment of a free trade zone in Hainan in 2018 and began construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port in 2020. Since then, Hainan has implemented a series of preferential policies such as visa-free entry, offshore duty-free shopping and a tax-exempt imports list, which has provided an express channel for overseas brands to enter the Chinese market.
The consumer products expo is an essential part of the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port and a step toward high-standard openingup as the province strengthens dutyfree consumption to drive economic development, according to local experts. They added that the expo has played a remarkable role in boosting duty-free consumption during the event and the period that followed.
Official data show that Hainan’s offshore duty-free sales between May 6-9, 2021, increased 309 percent from the same period of 2020.
The event also attracted much attention from international media. The expo’s organizers said that more than 160 media outlets from home and abroad, including Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, The Associated Press and Tass, dispatched nearly 1,000 reporters to cover the event. During the period from March 15 to May 15, more than 428,000 reports relating to the event were published by 300-plus media outlets.
Switzerland was the guest country of honor at the first expo. “The expo has brought new opportunities for global high-end brands to enter and expand in the Chinese market,” said Bernardino Regazzoni, then Swiss ambassador to China. “The expo also
marks another big step forward in the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port and the acceleration of China’s integration into the global economic system,” he added.
The second CICPE was held in Haikou from July 26-30, 2022. This session featured an exhibition area of 100,000 sq m. A total of 1,955 enterprises from 61 countries and regions, made of 1,107 from overseas and 848 from China, exhibited 2,843 brands at the expo. In addition, the 2022 expo received more than 280,000 visits including 40,000-plus representatives for buyers.
The expo released more than 600 new products. A yacht show featuring 200-plus yachts from 50 wellknown brands was held alongside the expo, according to the organizer.
As the guest country of honor, France participated in the second expo with nearly 50 of its enterprises and 250 brands. French companies Galeries Lafayette and Danone, for instance, took part in the event.
Lawrance Shum, CEO of Galeries Lafayette China, said the expo is an excellent platform for purchasers to connect with global high-end brands and understand the Hainan market as well as the entire Chinese market.
Bruno Chevot, president of Danone Greater China, North Asia and Oceania, said the expo is a “bridge” and “window” for high-quality foreign goods to enter the Chinese market, which is conducive to promoting communication between domestic and foreign markets and boosting consumption upgrading.
The event again attracted great media attention. During the period between June 24 and Aug 5, 2022, a total of 324 media outlets from China and abroad covered the expo, with nearly 340,000 reports published.
The third CICPE was held in Haikou from April 10-15, 2023. The total exhibition area reached 120,000 sq m, an increase of 20 percent over the 2022 edition.
More than 3,300 brands from 65 countries and regions were displayed at the event, an increase of 19 percent from 2022. The event attracted more than 320,000 visits. The number of buyers’ representatives attending the expo exceeded 50,000, growing 25 percent from the 2022 edition.
There were successful investment promotions at the expo. Businesses from the host city of Haikou, for instance, signed agreements on 24 cooperative projects with domestic and overseas partners. The combined pledged investment totaled 3 billion yuan ($414.6 million).
More than 200 media outlets from home and abroad sent reporters to cover the event. About 610,000 reports related to the expo were published during the period March 3 to April 15 that year.
Italy was the guest country of honor of the third CICPE. In a short video at the opening ceremony on April 10, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her gratitude to the Chinese leadership and the expo, stressing the bilateral consensus to enhance China-Italy trade ties and boost global economic recovery through joint efforts.