3608Focus on Jinhua/col/col1229181172/index.html
HOME >> Focus on Jinhua
China Yiwu International Forest Products Fair
On November 4, the 14th China Yiwu International Forest Products Fair came to an end. The fair adopted innovative methods of organization, optimized the layout of exhibition areas, and set up abundant supporting activities. The fair has become an important trading platform for forest product companies to explore domestic and overseas markets.
The fair enabled exhibitors and purchasers to meet face to face instead of communicating online through screens. It helped companies to overcome the adverse effects of the pandemic and achieved remarkable results in economic and trade cooperation. The fair's total trade turnover was 1.85 billion RMB, and it hosted 102,000 merchants. Overseas merchants from 30 countries and regions—including Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and more—came to the fair for procurement. The fair also attracted 11 professional procurement teams, including 3 overseas ones.
"Our company is located in Xincun Town, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. People have 212 walnut trees per capita there, and walnut trees are the largest source of income for locals," said Xu Youzhong, head of Chuxiong Luzhiyuan Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. Although it was the first time that Xu had come to Yiwu for the fair, he said he had already been familiar with Yiwu and the fair. "I've long heard that Yiwu is a highly open platform. The fair and Yiwu provide merchants around the world with information about Yunnan's high-quality forest products, and help us to sell our organic agricultural products such as walnuts to other cities and other countries," said Xu. During the fair, there was also a special recommendation meeting in Yiwu for Yunnan's forest products. "A company in Yongkang contacted us after the recommendation meeting, and a cooperation agreement is under further negotiation now," said Xu.
High-quality agricultural products such as dried fruits from Xinjiang, goji berries from Ningxia, mahogany from Dongyang, and bamboo products from Anji also appeared at the fair, which improved the popularity and influence of the brands. Moreover, the fair set up a special exhibition area for products from poorer villages and towns, where booth fees were reduced or exempted for exhibitors. The fair also helped these brands by expanding markets, establishing platforms, and opening up network cooperation channels. During the fair, the agreements negotiated in this special exhibition area reached 8.07 million RMB.
"This is my second time to participate in the Forest Products Fair. The fair has a full range of products to meet my needs," said Sayed Aboutaleb from Egypt, who operates a foreign trade company in Dongyang, mainly exporting goods to Morocco. This year he wanted to buy home furnishings, bamboo products, wooden beds, and more. He found many good products at the fair and has made further contact with the exhibitors.
Complying with digital development, the fair made full use of big data. It cooperated with the Chinagoods Platform for the first time, established an exhibition and trading center for high-quality forest products, and organized a "cloud" fair. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the "Internet celebrity economy," the fair also hosted e-commerce livestreaming. Carrying out large-scale and centralized livestreaming promoted both online and offline transactions of forest products, attracted the attention of companies and merchants, and expanded its influence.
"The fair helped us expand our overseas market and further increase our brand influence in the domestic market," said Ying Meiju, the person in charge of Yongkang Aochi Power Machinery Tool Factory. They and 340 other companies entered the exhibition and trading center for high-quality forest products and launched 3652 products, attracting 1.32 million online visitors. (By Fang Jing, translated by Jin Haiqiong, edited by Kendra Fiddler)