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Expanding to market on the mainland

By Hu Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-21 17:10

The Taiwan Trade Fair in Nanjing, the biggest trade fair ever held outside the island, offered Taiwanese businessmen not only satisfying trade figures, but valuable thoughts on how to expand business in the mainland's market, said Wang Chih-Kang, board chairman of Taipei World Trade Center.

More than 5,000 mainland buyers registered to attend the fair, running from Sept 17 to 20, and the trade agreements signed are expected to exceed $100 million, said Zhao Xiaojiang, the vice mayor of Nanjing.

On the afternoon of the first day of the four-day fair, as the exhibition hall witnessed big crowds, a smaller one-on-one procurement meeting was held at the same venue.

The half-day procurement meeting saw the total sum of agreements signed reach $26.5 million. Among them, Jinying shopping center and TrustMart, two department store chains, procure 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) deals respectively.

In the meeting room, with 29 large mainland enterprise buyers sitting at their tables, Taiwan exhibitors took turns to go in and select prospective buyers. Every exhibitor was only given 30 minutes; altogether 191 Taiwan exhibitors came to talk.

During the trade event, a representative surnamed Lan from Baijiahui Co Ltd in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a local chain supermarket, told reporters that they hoped to buy some varieties of snacks, during the session they had talked with seven or eight exhibitors and were very interested.

"The procurement meeting is short, but we already have some intentions, we will surely keep in touch with them after the fair," Lan said.

When some Taiwanese merchants were increasing profits, others were benefiting intellectually, gaining valuable experiences from Taiwanese entrepreneurs who have already achieved great success in the mainland.

Jason Lin, CEO of Taiwan's Uni-President Group, a food and beverage giant, "Chinese mainland's three decades of reform and opening up has made the mainland the world's manufacturing center. It is now changing itself into a consumption center amid the ongoing financial crisis."

"Our products should be made for the normal life of a huge population, but with newer material, modern design and even better quality," Lin added.

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He cited the fashion brands Zara from Spain and Muji from Japan as examples and attributed their success to his business idea: ordinary products with a new design, new material and improved quality, offering customers chic but affordable choices.

As many Taiwanese brands have the same features as Zara and Muji, Lin believed they have great potential market in the mainland.

It is not Lin alone who thinks the mainland is changing from a manufacturing center to a consumption center. Wang Chih-Kang, also co-organizer of the Taiwan trade fair, echoed his views at a symposium held in Nanjing.

The symposium was for Taiwanese businessmen in the Yangtze River Delta to discuss how they should adapt to the mainland market and expand domestic demand. Wang said in his speech that the macro policy of expanding domestic demand, especially in rural areas, opens a great opportunity for Taiwan enterprises.

He said many Taiwan enterprises have long been focusing on exporting to countries like Japan, now they can switch their attention to the domestic side: a market with 1.3 billion eager consumers is nowhere to be found but here.

"Nanjing is part of the well-developed Yangtze River Delta region; meanwhile, it borders Henan and Anhui provinces, which have large rural areas and are potential big markets," Wang said, adding that, "That's why I choose Nanjing to hold this trade fair."

Xu Mang, director of Economic Department, Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, gave an overview of the central government's policies to Taiwan enterprises at the symposium.

He encouraged Taiwan merchants to do business in the mainland, and said the mainland will continue to send procurement delegations to Taiwan. He also suggested Taiwan businessman to carefully study the policies of the mainland in order to firmly grasp the expanding and ever-evolving economic trends.