2nd CICPE opens new opportunities for global brands

The second China International Consumer Products Expo underway in Haikou of South China's Hainan province from July 25-30 offers opportunities for common prosperity despite complex international situation, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The total exhibition area of the second expo is 100,000 square meters this year, 20,000 sq m more than last year. The international exhibition area, covering an area of 80,000 sq m, has attracted more than 1,600 brands from 61 countries and regions. Over 600 new products are expected to be launched in this area.

The Chinese market is the growth engine of the L'Oréal Group, providing a driving force for innovation in areas such as digitalization and beauty technology, and China has therefore become the location of the group's new North Asia headquarters, said CEO Nicolas Hieronimus.

At this year's expo, the 20,000 sq m domestic exhibition area, including an additional 5,000 sq m domestic product boutique hall, has attracted more than 1,200 domestic brands.

The expo provides unlimited business opportunities for international brands to explore Chinese market, while introducing more domestic fashionable products to serve global consumers.

China will strive to make the expo an important platform for countries to expand trade, strengthen cooperation and promote development and sincerely welcomes enterprises from all over the world to ride on the express train of China's development, share the opportunities of the Chinese market and provide new growth impetus for the recovery of the global economy, said Sheng Qiuping, vice-minister of commerce.

Currently, China's consumer market is showing a trend of recovery and growth with strong consumption resilience and sufficient potential. China maintains long-term positive fundamentals of consumption development and general trend of consumption improvement and upgrading. Holding the expo will help to better promote consumption recovery and release potential, Sheng said.

China's further opening-up and establishing platform for global consumer goods enterprises to enter the Chinese market will help boost confidence of manufacturers and consumers and inject positive energy into the recovery and growth of the world economy, said Huang Wenkai, vice-president of KPMG China.

Members of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership showed great enthusiasm to participate in this year's expo. The total exhibition area of Japan, Korea and Malaysia has crossed 5,000 sq m in 2022, up 20 percent from last year.

The theme and positioning of the expo is highly consistent with the development direction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, which will play a positive role in accelerating the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port, said Ni Qiang, vice-governor of Hainan province.

The expo will help speed up efforts to build Hainan Free Trade Port into an important intersection of domestic and international circulation, Ni added.

Since its inception in 2018, the Hainan Free Trade Port has adopted more than 180 policy documents to widen market access and promote trade facilitation and liberalization. The average annual growth rate of new market players has reached 40 percent, and the average annual growth of utilized overseas investment has grown 80 percent since 2018.

After the first expo, many international brands such as Omron of Japan, Dell of the United States, and Delvaux of Belgium seized the new opportunity in Hainan island and set up duty-free experience stores in Hainan.

More exhibitors will be guided to set up regional headquarters, open the first brand store, and spur the domestic market based on the policy advantages of Hainan Free Trade Port, said Xu Xingfeng, director general of the Commerce Ministry's Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion.

South China's Hainan province launched first round of voucher issuance activities from April 28 to accelerate consumption recovery. The provincial government also decided to add 100 million yuan ($14.8 million) to take advantage of CICPE, China Securities Journal reported on Monday.

About 60 percent of the funds will be used to issue tax-free consumption coupons for outlying islands; around 30 percent will be used to issue consumption vouchers in areas such as catering and retail; and about 10 percent will be used to issue home appliance consumption vouchers, the report said.

China has demonstrated its determination to open its door further to share opportunities and create a better future for common prosperity by holding a series of high-level business events, including China Import and Export Fair, China International Fair for Trade in Services, China International Import Expo, and China International Consumer Products Expo.