SFC Markets and Finance丨Buyers at the High-Quality Consumption Expo: What Are They Looking For?

南方财经全媒体集团首席记者施诗 见习记者梁旭琦 澳门报道

The Third (Macao) China International High-Quality Consumption Exhibition officially opened in Macao. This year, the expo has attracted thousands of global buyers. What are they looking for? What do they think about the Chinese market? To find out, we spoke to some of them.

Jani Dhruv Pankajkumar, buyer from India

I’ve been in China from 2019. Currently I'm running a trading company. We are mainly into the garments. China is the leading trendsetter. Guangzhou is the biggest market for that. The maximum factories are based in Guangzhou for fast fashion.

I've been to Macao many times. I like the expo they do here. They expose high-quality products. I just want to check what's new in the market. What kind of quality they are delivering to the world. It's very smooth.

To be honest, when I started to open the company, it just takes me one day to open a company. It's very smooth for foreigners. Even people can't speak Chinese and English. It's very good for them and they help me a lot. Because I can't speak Chinese fluently. They help me translate some things. They guide me how to open a company, how to do everything.

The Nansha government is doing good activities for foreigners. It's really great to set up a business in Nansha. For example, they're giving free Chinese classes to us. It's very good for them. They are hosting cultural programs. We don't know much about Chinese culture. When you live in the country for a long time, it's good to know the culture. You have attachment to the country. Culture is the main part of that. They do cultural exchange programs. They help us if we face problems. Recently, they had a seminar about payments.

Now foreign brands are inspired by Chinese products. They are making something good and then it became a trend. Recently, I'm getting some orders from my clients when they see TikTok. In China, it's called Douyin. They see some crazy products. The video went viral and they want the same products from China. This is how people want more Chinese products.

Carla Veronica Olmedo Velasquez, buyer from Ecuador

Before, I was studying in China, and now I'm looking to establish a new company. So, I'm trying to look for what products could be sold in my country. I did find a lot of interesting things and also many cooperation opportunities.

I love China. The thing I love the most is the safety. It's so safe. It's also super convenient for everything—for buying stuff, receiving stuff, the transportation—everything is so convenient, so punctual. I like it a lot.

China is such a great country with a lot of opportunities. We can do a lot of business with my country. China and my country already have a lot of business, and we have very good diplomatic relationships. So it's convenient for me to do it here, and I have a lot of facilities now. I like it. I also like living in China.

My personal goal is to help my country develop economically and to strengthen the relationships between China and my country. I hope for a better future, more cooperation in the future, and better opportunities for both of us.

Sharif Valeev, buyer from Russia

I’m originally from Russia. I have been working in China since 2019. We work in a Spanish interior design company, and we do interior design projects all over the world.

Macao has a good geographical and geopolitical position. It is open for trade with the whole world, allowing the input of capital to Macao and, through Macao, to China. Conversely, it also facilitates trade from China to foreign suppliers. I think it's a unique position, and it helps cultural exchange.

In my opinion, the exchange of culture is greatest through trading goods. So here we see what China has to offer and what the world has to offer, and that's why I'm thrilled and excited to see the unexpected.

I think that Hong Kong, Macao, and the Greater Bay Area are very business-minded. People here are very productive. They are working hard, experimenting, investing, and trying something new. Because of high competition, they strive to stand out in the market. That's why it's very vibrant and energetic. It's a bold environment; nobody is afraid to experiment. People are investing and trying to enter foreign markets.

The Chinese are expanding, and they are doing well. Chinese suppliers no longer expect foreigners to come and place orders. Now they're changing their mindset, and you can feel it. I can sense that now Chinese suppliers no longer want to stay in their safe place in China; they want to expand into foreign markets. They are investing and opening factories in Europe and the USA. They are also investing heavily in South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

Abdelaziz Hussein, buyer from Egypt

We do business in Guangzhou, China. Our business is related to international trading and overseas trading. We import products from China to the Middle East.

I came to Macao today to look at the new technology and new products at this exhibition. It's one of the famous exhibitions in China, so it's a great opportunity. I have been in China for a long time, doing business for 5 years, from 2019 till now, as we have a trading company in Guangzhou.

China is a big country for business, investment, and manufacturing. It’s the best place to buy anything, produce any product, and do almost anything. It’s a chance to communicate with suppliers; face-to-face interaction is better than communicating online. You should go to the exhibition to meet suppliers and see new products and technology.

China is one of the biggest places exporting many products to the Middle East. We wish to cooperate with more suppliers.

Gnatchiglo Joel Miworse, buyer from Togo

For the past 17 years, I have worked in a trading company. We do exports from China to Africa and also sourcing. China is good for doing business because most of the things we use in Africa come from China. Importing them from China to Africa helps us make benefits and profits.

An important trend is the stability of the country, especially when it comes to food, like greens. Because of China's stability, many people find it safer to come to China and do business than to go to other countries.

Mehmet Akaryildiz, buyer from Türkiye

I’ve been doing import and export business, primarily exporting from China to Türkiye and also to different countries like Russia. I started doing business with China before I decided to live here, so overall, it’s been about 20 years.

The name of the exhibition attracted me, and I found something really interesting. There was a water company; we don't actually provide water to supermarkets, but the bottle was interesting. I can produce this bottle to put something inside. Even getting ideas from exhibitions is valuable.

China is big. Sometimes we find products from Xiamen, sometimes from Tianjin, and sometimes from Guangzhou. The metro and train systems are very good, which makes business easier. Additionally, there are ports everywhere. The Chinese market is still on top.

策划：于晓娜

监制：施诗

编辑：李依农

记者：施诗 见习记者梁旭琦

制作：蔡于恬

新媒体统筹：丁青云 曾婷芳 赖禧 黄达迅

海外运营监制: 黄燕淑

海外运营内容统筹: 黄子豪 

海外运营编辑：庄欢 吴婉婕 龙李华 张伟韬

出品：南方财经全媒体集团