Shanghai's CIIE Lures 2.1% More in Deals This Year as Execs Believe in Recovery
Xu Huiyun
DATE:  Nov 11 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Shanghai's CIIE Lures 2.1% More in Deals This Year as Execs Believe in Recovery Shanghai's CIIE Lures 2.1% More in Deals This Year as Execs Believe in Recovery

(Yicai Global) Nov. 11 -- Shanghai's China International Import Expo has facilitated an increasing sum of intended transactions this year from a year ago despite the Covid-19 pandemic as business leaders trust that economic recovery is on track.

The tally rose by 2.1 percent to USD72.6 billion, Sun Chenghai, deputy director of the organizing bureau, announced yesterday.

Overseas business executives Yicai Global interviewed agreed that the expo has given them more opportunities to develop in China.

The super-large scale of the third CIIE and the big number of exhibitors show the significant role of the Chinese market and the importance that companies place on it, Allan Gabor, president of Merck China, told Yicai Global.

Merck will increase its investment in China, especially through material innovation, to bring new materials to use in emerging digital technologies, such as fifth-generation wireless networks, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, said Kai Beckmann, chief executive of Merck's performance materials business.

The German pharmaceutical giant will spend EUR18 million to build a base in Shanghai to test and analyze electronic materials, especially semiconductors, within the largest product portfolio for the multinational company, it announced during the expo. The research and development center should be ready in the first half of 2022.

Merck believes that China's semiconductor industry is ushering in a golden era, and there is a lot to do, Gabor concluded.

Emerging technologies were on other executives' minds too. "We consciously put the latest solutions related to software, intelligence and connectivity in our showcase program, which attracted a lot of customers and attention,” Scott Zhang, president of Honeywell China, told Yicai Global.

“The Chinese market presents a lot of potential and a great demand for solutions, and we are confident,” said Zhang. The US-headquartered conglomerate will increase its research and development efforts and further explore third-tier and even smaller cities.

Boehringer Ingelheim is looking forward to leveraging the expo to accelerate innovative drugs' market entry, Felix Gutsche, president of the German biopharmaceutical company’s China branch, told Yicai Global. China is already one of BI's most important strategic markets, and will drive the firm’s global development, he added.

BI will invest an additional EUR451 million (USD533.3 million) in China over the next five years, which is to prove the company's confidence in the CIIE and its commitment to China, said Gutsche.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine

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Keywords:   Trade Volume,Business Parnership,Market Opportunity,CIIE,Shanghai,2020,Third CIIE,China,Deals