HELLER at
China International Import Expo
TEXT Lukas Schult PHOTOS HELLER
HELLER at
Around 400,000 visitors and 3,600 companies from 172 countries followed the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jingping to participate in a cross-sectoral exchange at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. The trade show held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center from 5 to 10 November 2018 did not focus on any specific industry and attracted experts from a wide range of sectors – from mechanical engineering through to consumer goods.
Together with other major German machine tool manufacturers, HELLER presented its products and services to trade experts in the ‘Intelligent Manufacturing’ hall. Despite the current trade dispute with the US, the Chinese government had wanted to stage a trade show as a sign of openness. CIIE is a crucial step for the Chinese government towards trade liberalisation and the further opening of the Chinese market to the world. Accordingly, Chinese President Xi Jingping emphasised the significance of the event for international trade in his opening speech. The People’s Republic expects an import volume of approx. 10 trillion dollars in the coming five years. This offers enormous potential, especially for German companies, to establish in the Chinese market. HELLER recognised this potential at an early stage, opening its own production facilities in Changzhou near Shanghai as early as 2013.
2018 – a good year for the machine tool industry
Looking back at the 2018 financial year, German machine tool manufacturers can be satisfied. In 2018, exports to China rose by six percent. A look at the quarterly development, however, shows a significant decline in order intake. According to VDW forecasts, this development will exacerbate with investment rates declining. Therefore, participation in events such as CIIE is of crucial importance in order to solidify the industry’s market position.
Auf der ersten China International Import Expo trafen sich Experten aus unterschiedlichsten Bereichen.
The first China International Import Expo attracted experts from a wide range of sectors.
- 400000visitors
- 3600companies
- 172countries
China International Import Expo
A sign of goodwill amidst
the trade dispute
TEXT Christoph Hoene PHOTOS Hoene Consult
The idea came from the highest governmental level: in May 2017, China’s President Xi Jinping himself announced the China International Import Expo exhibition. In the emerging trade dispute with the US, the intention behind CIIE, focusing exclusively on import, was to provide a sign of goodwill and to contribute to reducing the People’s Republic trade surplus of recently 450 billion dollars.
Initially, the German companies only cautiously accepted the invitation. After all, China already has quite a number of trade shows! Moreover, CIIE has no specific industry focus but covers a very wide field, e.g. machines or consumer goods, as well as general country pavilions. In the end, however, they all attended the event: 3,600 companies from 172 countries presented their products. The ‘Intelligent Manufacturing’ hall was well filled. Practically all major German machine tool manufacturers were represented with at least a small stand. Despite the fact that no great throng of industry visitors was to be expected: for security reasons, they had to register months in advance via the exhibitors. Despite this, CIIE was able to attract a total of 400,000 visitors at its premiere.
President Xi Jinping praised CIIE as a ‘pioneering undertaking in the history of global trade’. Already in the run-up to the event, the provincial governments throughout the country had been instructed to send delegations of potential buyers from state-owned enterprises to Shanghai to place orders to the best of their efforts. Numerous signing ceremonies were meant as proof of the trade fair’s success. Volkswagen and its local joint-venture partners, for example, declared their intention to import components worth nearly nine billion dollars. In the end, the actual volume of contracts concluded at CIIE was probably at a moderate level.
So was participation worthwhile for the exhibitors? It was not to be expected that the direct results would justify the effort involved. Yet, it was important to be represented at CIIE. The state’s influence on the Chinese economy remains high. In industries such as aerospace engineering, for example, there is no way around the state-owned companies. In the automotive industry and in mechanical engineering, the state uses the five-year plans to set the direction and direct funds to key sectors, specifically to promote innovations. So when the next China International Import Expo will open its doors on 5 November 2019, halls are expected to be fully booked again.
is the Managing Partner of HOENE CONSULT GmbH in Stuttgart and supports German enterprises from the capital goods sector in building and expanding their Chinese business. Before the founding of HOENE CONSULT in 2014, Hoene accumulated a quarter of a century’s worth of experiences in sales and management positions, primarily focussing on Asia. Among other things he was responsible for establishing and managing business in China for a major German machine tool manufacturer. Christoph Hoene was born in 1960 and is a graduate economist from Freiburg University.
