Tesco travel to China for Import & Export Fair

[File photo: baidu.com]

Dozens of UK companies, including Tesco have travelled to China for the 121st China Import and Export Fair

The 2017 fair has concluded with steady growth achieved in both volume of turnover and number of buyers. Total turnover of exports at the Fair sees a 6.9 percent year-on-year increase.

The 121st Canton Fair also saw steady growth in number of buyers. Total number of international purchasers and participants amounted to 196,490, increasing 5.87 percent from the 119th Canton Fair in 2016.

The number of buyers from the Americas increased the most, 9.6 percent year-on-year, while the number of buyers from Japan, America, Canada and Australia jumped 12.57 percent, 5.84 percent, 4.53 percent and 6.75 percent year-on-year respectively. 88,574 of buyers from the countries and regions in the Belt and Road Initiative attended with a year-on-year increase of 8.55 percent.

Xu Bing, spokesperson for Canton Fair and Deputy Director of the China Foreign Trade Centre said: "The Canton Fair is devoted to providing comprehensive exhibition platform and services for global exhibitors and buyers. Around 1,119 international chain enterprises took part in this year's Fair.109 of the top 250 retail companies newly announced in 2017 joined the 121st Canton Fair, including Walmart, Walgreen, Carrefour, Aldi, Tesco and Amazon."

This year's Fair was mainly focused on promoting foreign trade and supporting supply-side structural reforms. Numerous exhibitors such as Haier, Midea, TCL and Galanz have been investing heavily in product design and R&D to foster competitive advantages in technology, quality and service, and to expand their business to the higher end of the value chain. 

"Canton Fair is not only a platform for international trading, we are also leveraging six decades' knowledge of international market to help exhibitors produce products that appeal to more international buyers in several ways," added Xu Bing.

The 122nd Canton Fair will open on October 15, 2017, providing another outstanding exhibition platform and superior support services for all attendees. 

In May 2014 Tesco completed the formation of a joint venture with China Resources Enterprise, Limited to create the leading multi-format retailer in China.

China is a strategically important growth market for Tesco. The joint venture combines their best in class retail practices, international sourcing and multi-channel capabilities with CRE’s strong local knowledge and brand, to create a business which is the country's largest food retailer.