Rising in importance for foreign companies

Stepping into the import pavilion of the China Import and Export Fair to be held this month, you will find two Maserati roadsters never shown in China before.

"The Italian car manufacturer regards the fair as a good opportunity to promote its vehicles as well as the company itself," said Jing Yongjian, vice-president of China National Automotive Industry International Corp.

"The roadsters it brings to this year's fair will be showed for the first time in China."

Maserati was not aware of the fair's importance before, but realizing that the fair is a big event in China, it began to show great interest, said Jing.

The 101st China Import and Export Fair, formerly known as China Export Commodities Fair or the Canton Fair, showcasing only Chinese products, will start to offer booths to importers for exhibiting foreign commodities for the first time.

The move will further optimize the trade structure, said the Ministry of Commerce. The 101st fair will run from April 15 to 30, with the imports section scheduled between April 15 and 20.

Many foreign companies are eager to attend this year's fair, said Jing.

In the auto sector, apart from Maserati, Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz will bring their cars to the fair.

Audi will bring its A8 and Q7. The cars will also attend the Auto Shanghai 2007, China's leading auto show, to be held later this month.

"These car companies will all attend this year's Shanghai auto show, but realizing the importance of the China Import and Export Fair, they chose to bring their cars to this exhibition as well," said Jing.

Machinery imports

Jing and his colleagues have also roped in foreign machinery exhibitors for this year's imports section.

Although they have had only two months to prepare, they have invited over 50 foreign machinery companies to attend the fair.

The companies come from around 16 countries and regions, including Germany, Japan and Russia. Their products cover a wide range, from car parts to machinery accessories.

"We also invited machinery companies from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, which are not big traditional machinery commodities exporters," said Jing. "The fair is a boon to the trade of China's machinery products."

Foreign trade of China's machinery products reached $283.97 billion in 2006 and exports surged 36.3 percent, almost twice the 19.6-percent growth of imports, according to the China Machinery Industry Federation.

The nation's machinery industry achieved a trade surplus of $747 million in 2006, ending years of deficit, said the federation.

"The Fair is a showcase of China's reforms and opening-up drive. It welcomes overseas exhibitors and provides a good platform for the overseas products to enter the Chinese market," said Jing.

Preparation for this year's fair took a lot of work.

"We started the registration work in February, it's tough to finish all the work in just two months," he said, adding that they have taken every effort to get foreign exhibitors to register.

"The fair is new to most of the foreign companies, but by impressing on them how important it is, we enrolled them successfully," said Jing. "What's more, we have done a lot of research in order to provide them the best services."

Hard work

Jing and his colleagues have done a lot of market research in order to understand different industries. "Only when we provide professional services, can we invite a number of companies."

The valuable experience of Jing's company, China National Automotive Industry International Corp, also helped.

It is one of China's largest companies in machinery products trade and is involved in various domestic and international exhibitions focused on automobiles.

It has a presence in many countries and regions in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The company's parent, China National Machinery Industry Corporation, is a large State-owned enterprise.

Its main business includes large-scale project contracting, equipment providing, project design and construction, machinery and equipment R&D and manufacturing, as well as internal and external trade.

"When we have more time to prepare for the next fair, I am confident we will invite more foreign companies and provide better services," said Jing.

(China Daily 04/14/2007 page3)