The 2018 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Exposition is to be held from Oct 25 to 28. Here are the reporter’s findings during his visit to the local food companies in Dongguan.
2018 Guangdong
The 2018 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Exposition (hereinafter referred to as the “2018 MSR Expo”) will be held at the GD Modern International Exhibition Center in Houjie Town from October 25 to 28, 2018. To highlight the unique characteristics of the countries along the Maritime Silk Road, this year’s exhibition area has changed the pattern from the past “1+6”to “1+4”, containing 1 Comprehensive Exhibition Section for the countries and areas on the Maritime Silk Road and 4 Themed Exhibition Sections, among which the Fancy Food Show and Tea Culture will be one of the 4 Themed Exhibition Sections.
Recently, the reporter has found during his visit to the local food exhibitors, that the MSR Expo has made remarkable achievements in helping food companies in their “Going Global and Bringing” effort. The exposition has helped promote the brand popularity of food companies and expand their market in the countries in China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative. On the other hand, it has provided a platform matching the food companies with international raw material suppliers and thus reducing their raw material purchase costs.
【Boosted Local Companies to Go Global】
Xinyuan Foods: Increased Popularity of Dongguan-style Sausages on International Markets
Autumn wind rises, bacon smells nice! In Guangdong, the sausages made in Dongguan are reckoned as the best while in Dongguan, those made in Houjie Town are considered as the most delicious. Mr. Chen Shigen, the founder of Dongguan Xinyuan Foods Co., Ltd is the heir to the heritage of Houjie-style sausages. This company is a comprehensive food processor and seller, whose techniques of processing sausages and bacon is one of the provincial-level Intangible Cultural Heritages. In addition, the known Dongguan specialties such as moon cakes, cakes and pastries, dried longan and lichi pulps made in the company have been sold as far as to the markets in USA and Canada.
Ms. He Chunmei, the Assistant to the General Manager of the company told the reporter that Xinyuan Foods attended the four previous MSRIEs and the overseas purchasers also expressed interest in the egg rolls produced in the company besides the sausages.
“There was a free-tasting campaign held by Xinyuan Foods during each of the past MSR Expo sessions, and there will be no exception this year too” said Ms. He Chunmei. The reporter learned that the best-selling products of Xinyuan Foods like the tangerine-cured sausages will be on display at the exposition.
Speaking of the MSR Expo as a booster, Ms. He Chunmei stated that the MSR Expo benefited the companies in increasing brand popularity. At each of the past expositions, there were overseas customers purchasing and taking abroad Xinyuan’s products, and the wonderful product experience has brought them back. At present, Xinyuan Foods has achieved an annual export volume of about 5 million RMB in total.
During last year’s MSR Expo, seven companies including Xinyuan Foods, representative of model enterprises in Guangdong, launched promotion campaigns for their products at the “Buyer-Seller Matching Conference for Quality Products of Popular Enterprises”. Such events provided a face-to-face negotiation opportunity for specialized purchasers such as the Joint Purchasing Alliance of Global Supermarkets, and expanded international sales channels for the top quality products of the companies like Xinyuan Foods.
【Encouraged Local Companies to Bring in Overseas Suppliers】
Yongyi Foods: Sought overseas suppliers
“The MSR Expo has brought tangible benefits to our company. At the previous sessions of MSR Expo, many enterprises from the countries in the the “Belt and Road” Initiative would come to negotiate with us at the Yongyi Foods Exhibition Booths. Some customers had even made on-spot inspections of our factories during the exposition so as to accelerate bilateral communications and lay a good foundation for future cooperation. Mr. Sun Miqi, the Assistant to the Chairman of Dongguan Yongyi Foods Co., Ltd (hereinafter named as “Yongyi Foods”) told the reporter that the company had been a frequenter to the MSRIE and it would be their fourth participation in the exposition this year.
The company established its factories in Houjie Town, Dongguan in 1995, mainly engaged in the production of condiment series including cooking oils, ketchup, chicken powder and chicken essence etc. The company’s Hongxi Brand cooking oil, Phoenix ketchup, tomato sauce and abalone sauce have enjoyed excellent reputation in the food industry. Mr. Sun Miqi remarked proudly, “Hongyi’s products have always been popular at the MSR Expo, and our on-site retail sales volume reached several tens of thousands yuan in each of the past MSR Expo.”
“The MSR Expo has attracted the purchasers to Dongguan from a great number of countries. We can thus promote our enterprise and brands internationally without leaving home, which is very fast and convenient” Mr. Sun Miqi stated. He thought that the MSR Expo not only promoted the product sales, but also greatly expanded the brand popularity of the exhibitors.
Mr. Sun Miqi also revealed that the MSR Expo played additional role as a matching platform for Yongyi Foods to meet raw materials suppliers. In the previous sessions of MSR Expo, there were raw material suppliers present at the exhibition booths of Yongyi Food for business negotiations, bringing about resources of cooperation.
As for the 2018 MSR Expo, Mr. Sun Miqi expressed his wish to attract more customers for the fact that their health-preserving Mai Kang Mei series would also appear at the exposition alongside with the products of Pheonix and Hongxi series.
Source: Dongguan
