China calling for Walloon products

The second China Import Expo will take place at the end of 2019. It differs from the many other trade fairs held in China for several reasons. It is organised at the request of the Chinese government and it brings together all the major Chinese political decision makers, large state-owned companies, large private companies and high-calibre investors. The foreign exhibitors are all hand-picked. To ensure a high level of quality, the first event was simply held as a restricted club, the members being the companies selected by the very states from which they came.

Yes, this is the second event, and as the unstoppable China never fails, it will be better than the first. Quite simply, the Chinese State believes that purchasing power is growing too quickly for the natural flow of foreign investors.

Purchasing power, the source of our societies' development, has created a vast, if not immense, middle class in search of more refined, differentiated and better quality foreign products. The figures reported by the National Bureau of Statistics of China speak for themselves: annual per capita consumption reached CNY 350,000 in 2018. Taking into account the country's population, it is easy to imagine the business opportunities that this represents.

To attract more foreign investors and entrepreneurs, China has also simplified the status, procedures and costs of companies. Lastly, Europe-China relations are well established and especially noteworthy as relations with the United States are hampered by tariff wars.

The author of this article

Olivier Pire is a Walloon living in Shanghai since 2007. Sales Director Europe and LatAm for the WÜRTH group, he started out on his own in 2015 in import-export, service and consulting for foreign companies wanting a presence in China. In 2018, he decided to get closer to his region with a view to helping its entrepreneurs.