(Food and agricultural products showcased at the Exhibitors and Exhibition Meeting)

At the 2nd Pre-Expo Exhibitors and Buyers Matchmaking Meeting for Food and Agricultural Products held on July 26, exhibitors brought their new products as a warm-up for the Expo in November.

The meeting on food, agricultural products, medical devices and healthcare products was held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai). As the second exhibitors networking meeting for the second CIIE, it also provided an opportunity for more than 300 purchasers and nearly 100 exhibitors  to interact ahead of the opening of the Expo.

The seemingly ordinary light brown baobab fruit powder in glass bottles is actually a Madagascan specialty that has never entered the Chinese market. It’s said that this high-fiber food additive can be used as dietary food. A red pepper known as the second spiciest pepper in the world was also brought to China for the first time. “This is the first time that we’ve participated in the Expo. Last year I was a visitor at CIIE, at which point I decided to attend the Expo the next year, because it’s obviously the best way to open the Chinese market to our products,” said Yu Shuai, chairman of Madagascar Manda Co., Ltd.. He wanted to bring baobab fruit powder, red pepper, mung beans, peanuts and cashew nuts to China through the CIIE.

“Baobab fruit is a unique agricultural product in Madagascar. Once ground, it becomes a high-fiber food additive conducive to weight loss. We hope to find partners in China to produce weight-loss bread and other products,” said Mr Yu. According to him, as an African country, although Madagascar's agricultural products are wholly natural, they seldom sell products to China because they don’t understand the import policies and quality control requirements of the Chinese market. He hoped to open the market through this face-to-face exchange at the Expo.

As an old friend of the CIIE, Theland from New Zealand is enthusiastic about the second Expo because of the remarkable sales it achieved in the 2018 CIIE. In the first quarter of 2019, Theland’s online sales in China surged by 309 percent year on year, with its customers covering all 34 provincial administrative regions. “Our products were sold as far east as Fuyuan in Heilongjiang province, west as the center region of the Eurasian Continent, south as Sansha in Hainan and north as Mohe in Heilongjiang province,” said Sheng Wen, chairman of Theland. He added that in preparation for the second CIIE, Theland planned to launch a limited-edition customized dairy product, as well as bring natural spring soft water from Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. He said, “These products will be released for the first time in the world, and we have specially chosen the second Expo in Shanghai as the place to launch them.”

As the first company to sign up for the second Expo, Lesaffre from France has brought some specially-made "treasure bread" with pandas wearing scarves and leaning on the globe with the word “CIIE” on it. This combines the CIIE’s mascot with the Expo’s emblem.

“We are looking forward to the second CIIE, which is why we booked the booth early last year,” said the representative of Lesaffre. Compared with last year, the company’s exhibition area has doubled to 400 square meters. New fermented powder with a simplified process, new folic acid which can be directly absorbed and utilized by the human body, and many other new products will be displayed in the exhibition scene.

Cargill from the United States will bring a range of “crossover cosmetics”, like ice creams which can moisturize the skin and biscuits that can be used as body scrubs. The biscuit’s compounds include natural starch, cocoa powder, organic shea butter, white cocoa butter and many other edible compositions. Cocoa hand-washing powder is made by mixing sunflower seed oil, natural soft phospholipid and maltodextrin. “All the raw materials and processes needed to make the products are listed in our ‘skincare brochure’. If you are interested in them, you can even choose to make them yourselves at home!” a staff member said.

The second China International Import Expo will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) from November 5 to 10, 2019. The average exhibition area for enterprises is 93 square meters, which is over 20 percent larger than that of the first CIIE. In addition, more than 250 companies in the world's top 500 or industry leaders have signed up to participate in the Expo.