If you are interested in exporting to China, then you need to be at the upcoming 2018 China International Import Expo Business Forum.
Through Austrade, Australia has secured a large area of floor space at the expo, held in Shanghai in November, to give Australian businesses the opportunity to showcase their products to Chinese businesses and buyers.
Founder and president of the Australia China SME Association (ACSME), David Thomas, says the forum is a great platform for Australian small businesses to put their goods and services in front of thousands of eager Chinese buyers.
“China represents a huge market of export opportunity for Australian small businesses,” he explains. “Over 100 countries including Australia will be attending the forum in China to showcase products and services and this is an opportunity for Australian SMEs to take part.
“The forum is being personally promoted by President Xi Jinping and will have 160,000 exhibitors, eight times the previous biggest global expo. Apart from size, what makes it a real game changer is the fact that the whole focus is on importing. Exhibitors will be buying from businesses attending the forum―not selling to them.”
The ACSME can assist in setting up meetings with potential buyers prior and during the forum to maximise the opportunities available for Australian companies.
“There is a perception that China is difficult and expensive to do business with and once upon a time it was, but today, due to the widespread use of the internet in China and reduced tariffs designed to encourage mainland Chinese to purchase overseas products, the market is a lot easier to enter,” adds Thomas.
“In 2015 alone, imported goods accounted for 17 per cent of China’s online sales. There is so much untapped potential in the Chinese market that Australian business owners either don’t know about or are just choosing to ignore because they don’t know how to take advantage of it.
“That is why we are encouraging small to medium size businesses to get involved in this upcoming forum. ACSME is taking a large delegation of businesses over to the forum to take part and will also be helping to create and develop business opportunities with Chinese buyers. The forum is too good an opportunity to be missed and I encourage any business owner thinking about exporting to China to contact ACSME to find out more about the forum.”
By Marion Gerritsen
