After successfully holding the 5th China (Jinjiang) International Decoration & Building Materials Expo and the 24th Jinjiang Footwear & the 7th Sports Industry International Exposition, Jinjiang has set its sights on the Canton Fair which is considered a major gauge and barometer of China’s foreign trade.
The 133rd Canton Fair closed its offline exhibition in Guangzhou on May 5. This year, it resumed all on-site activities after appearing largely online since the outbreak of COVID-19, and became the largest one ever in its history. Jinjiang’s manufacturing has been showcased on this mega stage by 229 exhibitors and 572 stands, reaching new heights in both records. The recent data released by the Jinjiang Municipal Bureau of Commerce showed that Jinjiang exhibitors have signed intended orders of more than 50 million US dollars.
New friends, new markets
Many Jinjiang enterprises made new friends and developed new markets at this year’s Canton Fair.
Susino Umbrella (Jinjiang) got 10 standard booths during the second phase of the Fair, and turned them into an exquisite and stylish display to showcase all kinds of umbrella products, attracting considerable attention. “We’ve received more than 350 groups of clients without a stop,” said Wang Qingyong, General Manager of Susino, who also said that this year’s Canton Fair was generally better than expected, with a gain in high-quality contacts and leads mainly from Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, among which 20% to 30% are expected to be turned into customers by effective arrangement of follow-up.
Chen Qiping, General Manager of Quanzhou Yuying Garment Co., Ltd, said that they’ve signed intended orders of more than 5 million US dollars. Among those who enquired and placed orders, new customers accounted for about 70%, and the proportion of buyers from emerging markets like Brazil and Russia significantly increased.
“Underwear enterprises from Shenhu find this year’s exhibition very fruitful. Each of them received 30 or 40 international customers consulting about the products, signed several intended orders, and engaged many overseas buyers to visit their firms and factories,” said Wu Bijun, Director of the Economic Development and Reform Office of Shenhu Town. According to Wu, the majority of the international customers of Shenhu’s enterprises were from Europe and the U.S. in the past. Attending this Canton Fair brought them many potential customers from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Russia. It’s more than worthwhile to gain new markets for Shenhu’s underwear.
According to the Jinjiang Municipal Bureau of Commerce, 229 Jinjiang enterprises attended this Canton Fair with a total of 572 stands, ranking on top among all the county-level cities in Fujian, with 64 more exhibitors and a 56% increase in the number of booths compared with the attending in 2019. The total number of booths accounted for 27% of Quanzhou’s exhibitors. Moreover, a Jinjiang Hall sized 243 square meters was set up at Area A outside the complex during the third phase of the Fair, dedicated just to showing various industries of Jinjiang.
In-depth innovation helps to spread the brands
Big innovations lie in small objects like a piece of fabric, a pair of underwear, an umbrella, and a pair of shoes. It can be said that the confidence of Jinjiang’s enterprises in getting orders at the Canton Fair comes from their innovation in models, fabrics, and customer services. It’s their in-depth innovations that firmly hold customers’ hearts in the global competition.
“Many buyers from Europe and the United States have the requirement on using environmental-friendly fabrics in garments, including renewable and reusable ones, and the ones from organic planting and producing,” said Zhang Zizi, a business manager from Jinjiang Jiali Knitting Garments Co., Ltd., who also introduced to the reporter a men’s underwear more favored by the customers, which is made of recycled polyester yarn with the moisture-wicking property.
“In addition, we have developed some innovative products such as underwear with a heating function. These products catering to the trend definitely increase our bargaining chips for new orders,” she added. She also mentioned that the company was optimistic about this year’s foreign trade market after receiving quite a few intended orders on-site.
Like Jiali Knitting, Santic (Quanzhou) Sports Co., Ltd has carried out a new round of innovation on functional and environmental-friendly fabrics while expanding its fabric category. “In terms of fabrics, we pay more attention to adopting eco-friendly and renewable fabrics. They are not only high-tech oriented but also in line with the current trend on sustainable development in the whole industry,” said Wei Guoan, assistant to the Chairman of the Board. He also pointed out that these products not only surprised customers but also won their recognition at the Fair, which gave the company the confidence to increase its investment in functional products and R&D on eco-friendly fabrics.
Industrial chains signal Jinjiang’s competitive edge
Apart from the affordability, quality and versatility of its products, Jinjiang also has a complete industrial chain, having a strong capacity to fuel its firms to stand out from the fierce competition.
In coordination with Jinjiang Swimwear Industry Association, Binyi, a technical textile firm, made its successful debut at the third phase of this Canton Fair.
“Many new clients showed considerable interest in our new products and signed contracts then and thereafter learning about our new improvements. They were looking forward to in-person factory visits as soon as possible”, said Li li, the director of the company’s overseas business department.
The industrial chain at the Fair is widely considered an efficient way for matchmaking between vendors and buyers, Li added.
Shi Fangfang, deputy secretary at the Jinjiang Swimwear Industry Association, said that the Canton Fair provides substantial opportunities for cities like Jinjiang to showcase its capacity for manufacturing and innovation of swimwear and its name as a home to the swimwear industry.
At the Fair, a wide variety of Jinjiang products ranging from umbrellas to sports and casual wearing signal Jinjiang’s power in the development of industrial chains. The fair was so massive that it was divided into three phases to display different product categories and some of Jinjiang’s key manufacturers even participated in two phases of the physical exhibition.