The 7th China International Import Expo was held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. New Zealand dairy and other food companies are optimistic about China’s development prospects. They have continued to cultivate the Chinese market for many years and actively participated in the CIIE in order to seek greater development opportunities in the growing Chinese market.

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has participated in the CIIE for seven consecutive years. Zhou Dehan, CEO of the company’s Greater China region, said recently that the CIIE provides Fonterra with an excellent opportunity to establish a partnership. “China is an important market for Fonterra. The Chinese market is full of vitality and provides broad opportunities for Fonterra’s development.”

Wang Xinru, China General Manager of Comvita, New Zealand’s largest Manuka honey brand and supplier, said that the past four “CIIE trips” have allowed the company to demonstrate its brand strength and high-quality products and build a bridge of communication with partners in different fields. The CIIE is held as scheduled every year, showing the world China’s determination to promote high-level opening up and its development concept of continuous innovation, so that multinational companies are full of confidence in China’s development prospects and market potential.

New Zealand New Zealand Dairy Co., Ltd. has participated in the CIIE for seven consecutive years. Roy van Denk, the company’s executive president, said that the CIIE effectively integrated upstream and downstream resources of the supply chain. “At the second CIIE, we signed cooperation agreements with large buyers and quickly covered 25 provinces and 5,000 stores. At the third CIIE, we launched the ‘milk source Intel’ model and quickly reached strategic cooperation with dozens of platforms to further integrate into China’s industrial ecology.”

Thanks to the upgrade of the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, all dairy products exported from New Zealand to China enjoy zero tariffs, which has opened up broader prospects for cooperation between dairy companies in the two countries.

“We expect China’s economy to continue to grow, and demand for dairy products will not only continue to grow, but also change according to the changing taste preferences of Chinese consumers.” Zhou Dehan said that Fonterra will continue to invest in innovation in China’s dairy industry to adapt to new customer needs.