By Tian Hong, People’s Daily
Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub, as a permanent trading platform of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), has attracted 160 enterprises and organizations from 64 countries, established 39 country pavilions, and introduced over 80,000 imported commodities, said Zhang Yuliang, chairman and president of Greenland Group, the parent company of the trading hub.
The trading hub, just a street away from CIIE’s venue – the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), was established in Nov. 2018 and combines multiple functions such as exhibition, deal-making, consumer guidance, as well as investment and incubation.It has grown into one of the major distributing centers for imported commodities in China.
Under the support of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), General Administration of Customs (GAC) and the municipal government of Shanghai, relying on the resources of the Greenland Group in over 50 countries and regions, and depending on the commerce circulation network of the group that covers hundreds of Chinese cities, the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub has rapidly gathered overseas enterprises, brands and commodities, becoming an important carrier to expand the spillover effect of the CIIE, and a trading center that covers the Yangtze River delta, serves the nation and radiates the Asian-Pacific region, Zhang told People’s Daily.
Over 90 percent of the merchants in the hub had exhibited their products in the first and second CIIE, or will join the third, Zhang said.
So far, the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub has created a total trading volume of over 50 billion yuan ($7.52 billion) and received more than 5.6 million visitors, according to the chairman. It has more than 6,500 groups of professional buyers, and has held over 300 commercial activities, introducing nearly 5,000 kinds of products in over 50 categories exhibited at the CIIE to 22 Chinese provinces, he added.
Zhang said the Greenland Group also plans to replicate the success of trading hub in other parts of China, and has already built such hubs in 12 major cities including Tianjin and Xi’an. In July this year, the Hangzhou Bay Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub was opened, and 90 of the 100 merchants in the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub agreed to set their businesses there.
The Northern Europe Center of the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hubin Shanghai has been replicated by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Greenland Group’s other trading hubs in Harbin, Jinan and Ningbo. The one in Harbin has achieved revenue of over 2.8 million yuan in the first month since it opened.
In recent years, the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub has fully exploited the country’s policies and measures to expand opening-up, and actively explored the new business forms of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce, bonded goods and tariff exemption.
Last October, the hub built the first bonded exhibition and sales venue in the Yangtze River delta relying on the favorable policies rolled out for Shanghai Qingpu Comprehensive Bonded Zone. The venue, covering over 10,000 square meters, exhibits and sells garments, bags, shoes and leather products of famous brands from Europe and the U.S. All the products are bonded and directly purchased from the suppliers, so their prices are lower than the average retail price in other parts of the country. The price of most of these commodities is equivalent to that in overseas market, and the annual sales volume is expected to hit 150 million yuan. Nearly 1,500 products from France and other countries or regions finished their China debut in the bonded exhibition and sales venue, Zhang noted.
In September this year, the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub, as extended areas under special customs supervision, has launched flash sale services for cross-border e-commerce by introducing technical support such as facial recognition, thus making regular the exhibition and sales of bonded products.
The Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub is working to make exhibits into commodities, and turn exhibitors into merchants and investors, Zhang said. The group will connect domestic and overseas markets and integrate domestic and overseas resources, he added.
The group will show up at the third CIIE with over 200 products manufactured by 16 brands from the UK, Portugal, and other countries and regions, and all of these brands are entering the Chinese market for the first time. In addition, country pavilions of the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub have already put 1,200 commodities to be exhibited at the third CIIE onto the shelve in advance, and many brands have launched “Made for China” products.
The innovative energy of China’s commerce is making foreign enterprises take the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub as an incubator for new business forms. Many foreign consul-generals in Shanghai have joined their first livestream shows in the hub, and the hub will also open “beer workshops,” “ice cream institutions” and other innovative business forms for better experience.
