From November 5th to 10th, the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held at the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai). As the world's first national exhibition with an import theme, the previous eight CIIEs have attracted a total of 27,000 companies from more than 180 countries and regions to participate in the exhibition. The intended transaction volume has exceeded 580 billion US dollars. It has not only realized the transformation of "exhibits into commodities", but also built a bridge of "exhibitors into investors", becoming an important gateway for foreign-funded enterprises to enter and take root in China. The CIIE, which has arrived as scheduled and is getting better and better, has become an important window for China to expand its opening up, connect the world, empower industries, and benefit people's livelihood.
An open agreement to share opportunities in China
It is reported that many "old friends" of the CIIE are preparing to show off their "special skills" and plan a series of premieres, first exhibitions and first shows to focus on displaying innovative development results: Louis Dreyfus will exhibit a series of innovative animal nutrition products including special phospholipids and special proteins, which are independently developed by the group's global R&D center in Shanghai; Kao will bring many of its main brands to the show to show how to explore sustainable lifestyles for the future; Rockwell Automation will not only display a high-performance control platform for the world's first time, but also bring the latest practices of green transformation...
"I am very much looking forward to attending the CIIE in Shanghai in November this year. The CIIE is an important platform that brings together global innovative ideas, connects consumers and partners, and turns innovation into development opportunities. The Estée Lauder Group has been deeply involved in China for more than 30 years. China is not only one of our important markets in the world, but also increasingly becoming an important source of talent, insight and inspiration for the group." Steve Staifeng, president and CEO of the Estée Lauder Group, said that he will come to the CIIE for the first time this year to demonstrate the group's long-term confidence in deeply exploring China.
At the ninth China International Import Expo, there will be 169 companies and 30 overseas exhibition organizers who are "full-time students"; about 50% of the exhibitors are "repeat customers", covering about 80% of the exhibition area. Behind the strong "magnetic power" displayed by the CIIE is China's unremitting efforts to promote high-level opening up and share development opportunities with the world.
Over the years, the CIIE has provided free booths to exhibitors from the least developed countries. This year, it will upgrade the Asian and African products area to help African countries with diplomatic relations with China seize the "zero tariff" opportunity and encourage more countries in the global South to make good use of the CIIE platform.
In early August this year, the Cote d'Ivoire Export Bureau decided to organize a delegation of small and medium-sized enterprises to appear at the ninth CIIE, bringing special agricultural products such as coffee, dried fruits, cocoa, and cashew nuts. The China-ASEAN Economic and Trade Center will officially launch the "Cross-Border Entrepreneurs Club" during the 9th China International Import Expo to provide regular full-link services for domestic enterprises to deploy in ASEAN.
Two-way empowerment, working together to innovate globally
In August this year, the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim announced that it would once again upgrade its strategy in China and will soon establish a new R&D center in Zhangjiang, Shanghai. Having participated in the exhibition for 8 consecutive years, Boehringer Ingelheim has displayed nearly 50 innovative products and solutions at previous CIIEs, and many of its achievements have achieved the leap from "exhibits" to "commodities". Since 2025, a number of the company's new drugs have been approved for marketing in China, and some of its products have achieved simultaneous global approval or even global debut.
For many multinational companies, the CIIE is not only the debut booth of global new products, but also the entrance to the two-way empowerment of global innovation and the Chinese market.
Since this year, Henkel, a German chemical and consumer goods manufacturer, has actively expanded its business layout in China and deeply integrated into the local industrial chain. In the field of consumer goods, Asia's first Sassoon Beauty Industry and the first Sassoon Salon were opened in Shanghai, completing the layout of the beauty industry from professional education, product innovation to terminal services; in the industrial field, Henkel and China Innovation Aviation jointly opened a battery innovation center in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province to promote safer, higher performance, and more sustainable battery technology to accelerate to the market.
Henkel will make its eighth appearance at the CIIE this year, focusing on the theme of "Building momentum together to usher in a new era", focusing on presenting cutting-edge technologies, innovative products and sustainable solutions from around the world, and promoting their in-depth connection with China's rich industrial scenarios and consumer demands. Anna, President of Henkel Greater China, said: "As a long-term participant in the CIIE, Henkel regards the CIIE as an important bridge to connect global innovation resources and Chinese market demand, deepen partnership cooperation, and create value together."
Build a platform to release spillover effects
During the National Day holiday, Greenland CIIE’s Lingang store, Suzhou store, and Panlong Tiandi store have coordinated multiple pop-up activities to bring the same CIIE models, national specialty products, delicacies, etc. to consumers. Three days before the holiday, the cumulative passenger flow of the Greenland Trade Port Market exceeded 50,000, and sales of the same food and imported ingredients at the Expo increased by more than 85% year-on-year. Xue Yingjie, general manager of Greenland Trade Port Group, said that as a perennial trading platform for the CIIE, Greenland Trade Port will continue to introduce new brands, create new scenes, and actively undertake the spillover effects of the CIIE.
Shanghai Bailian Group has reached a total of 170 intended purchase projects in the fields of food, consumer goods, medical equipment and other fields during the first eight CIIEs. It has established long-term and stable cooperative relationships with many overseas brands, continues to promote "turning exhibits into commodities" and fully unleashes the spillover effect of the CIIE's "6-day + 365-day" trading service platform. Its subsidiary Bailian Co., Ltd. focuses on core consumer categories such as beauty products to deepen the transformation of CIIE results. Currently, it has established in-depth cooperation with more than 80 international beauty brands and relies on its omni-channel network to achieve the rapid launch of new overseas products.
Ge Hong, deputy director of the China International Import Expo Bureau, said that the 9th CIIE firmly serves the national strategy, coordinates with the three major brands of "Export China", "Buy in China" and "Invest in China" to promote high-quality development with high-level opening-up practices; insists on curating exhibitions towards innovation, greenness, innovation and excellence, and actively displays "black technology" and "hard technology". Science and Technology", etc., we will make greater efforts to expand high-quality imports and promote balanced development of trade; we will create diversified docking scenarios, hold important buyer product selection meetings, buyer galleries, trade and investment matchmaking meetings and other activities to promote accurate matching and effective docking of exhibitors and merchants. At the same time, we will upgrade and create a "trading group home" to provide a one-stop platform and integrated services.
As the venue for the CIIE, Shanghai is comprehensively improving service guarantees, with urban transportation, port customs clearance, smart operation and maintenance and other guarantee systems in place, and continuously optimizing facilitation measures such as "green channels" for exhibits, speedy customs clearance, bonded displays, on-site settlements, etc.; various supply and demand matchmaking meetings, industry forums, investment negotiations, and policy interpretation activities have been intensively prepared, and the long-term transformation mechanism of "exhibits into commodities and exhibitors into investors" has become more mature.
Our reporter Tian Hong
