The curtain came down on the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on Monday. As the first major economic and diplomatic event following the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the fair recorded a new record high in intended transactions, underscoring the magnetic attraction of China's massive market.
Intended transactions stood at $83.49 billion on a one-year basis, up 4.4 percent from the previous edition and hitting a new record high, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.
The fair also set records with the exhibition area and the number of enterprises, as corporate facilities exceeded 367,000 square meters and 4,108 enterprises from 138 countries and regions took part. Among them, 290 involved the world's top 500 companies and industry leaders, and 180 have attended all eight editions of the expo.
At the buzzing CIIE venues, the Global Times observed a palpable enthusiasm for the Chinese market among traders, with exhibitors from home and abroad actively networking and forging deals.
"I'm here [at the CIIE] to help build relationships, help keep the friendships that we've had over the last 43 years. Grow on that and keep reminding people that we're here. We didn't fall away. We're not going anywhere. We're going to be here," Mark Alan Wilson, chairman of the US Grains Council (USGC), told the Global Times on Thursday.
On Thursday, Guangdong Junjie Agriculture Trading Co and CHS Inc. signed a 2026 strategic cooperation agreement at the US Grains Council exhibition booth at the CIIE, and the USGC said on its official WeChat account that the move marked a joint commitment to advance long-term cooperation in China-US grain trade and enhance sustainable supply-chain development.
Xiamen C&D Inc. said on Thursday that the total value of contracts signed in the first two days of the CIIE pushed the total to more than $5.2 billion, including six leading global companies in the agricultural and trade sectors.
The deals fully demonstrate its enhanced capability in efficiently integrating global resources and its firm commitment to engaging in international supply chain collaboration, the company said on its official WeChat account.
The CIIE continues to generate a powerful "spillover effect," empowering us to deepen our roots and thrive in China by collaborating with all partners from diverse sectors, according to Zhou Xiaolan, president of Bayer China.
As a regular participant in the eight CIIE events, Bayer said on Monday that it presented 26 innovative exhibits, signed more than 10 strategic cooperation agreements, and held and participated in more than 50 events.
Cargill told the Global Times on Monday that it had signed cooperation agreements totaling more than $30 billion over the past seven CIIE events, and this year, the strategic cooperation deals signed involve more than $3 billion.
China remains an important market for us, and we will continue to deepen our local engagement of "in China, for China." Through continuous investment and innovation, we are dedicated to becoming a trusted partner in China's agriculture and food industries, said Lily Guan, president of Cargill China.
The CIIE is a major platform set up by China to proactively open its market to the world and a pioneering initiative in the history of international trade, Hu Qimu, a deputy secretary-general of Forum 50 for Digital-Real Economies Integration, told the Global Times on Monday.
"Facing a time of profound global transformation, the CIIE will, through concrete action, inject much-needed certainty into the world economy," Hu added.
Participation in the CIIE is just one manifestation of companies' broader strategy for the Chinese market.
On November 2, Louis Dreyfus Co inaugurated its new specialty feed protein production line in Tianjin, as part of the group's strategic plans to expand its activities further downstream in the value chain.
The new specialty feed protein production line will initially focus on producing fermented soybean meal, with an annual production capacity of 60,000 metric tons. The company said in a statement sent to the Global Times that this development will allow it to meet growing demand in China's specialty feed protein market, projected to grow at a 7 percent compound annual rate from 2026 to 2030.
(Source: Global Times)