A recent Chamber of Commerce and Industry trade mission has provided participants with an invaluable understanding of the Chinese market and its scale and diversity.
A recent Chamber of Commerce and Industry trade mission has provided participants with an invaluable understanding of the Chinese market and its scale and diversity.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive John Langoulant, who led the tour to China, told WA Business News it took nine local small to medium-sized enterprises covering the furniture, outdoor entertainment, metal fabrication and various service industries to China.
“The purpose was to provide local business with a thorough insight into the Chinese market,” Mr Langoulant said.
Among the proposed visits was one to the Canton Fair, also known as the Chinese Export Commodities Fair, established in 1957.
“There were an enormous range of products on show at the fair, from textiles to furniture, and the scale and quality of the products was of a very high-quality,” Mr Langoulant said.
He told WA Business News the tour was a great opportunity for participants to set up relationships with different suppliers in the Chinese market.
TransCoast Holdings owner Cliff Hyman said the tour had enabled his company, which deals in furniture, to develop ties with suppliers while the tour visited Shanghai.
The trade mission to China was the first organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with Mr Langoulant stressing the chamber would be attending every fair in the future.
He said the CCI also established a memorandum of understanding with the Canton Fair, which would provide future opportunities for the state.
“We are the only chamber to have this relationship in Australia and one of the few in the world,” he said.
The Canton Fair is China’s largest trade fair, with in excess of $US10 billion ($A14 billion) over a 15-day session signed in export contracts. The 100th Canton Fair will be held in October and is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of PRC and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province.
In Shanghai, the trade mission visited, amongst other organisations, Invest Australia (an Australia Government agency which assists international companies build their business in Australia), Shanghai Industrial Foreign Trade Corp and the Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Commission.
The trade mission also toured China’s capital Beijing and visited the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the National Development and Reform Commission and China’s largest iron ore importer, SinoSteel Corporation.
