The China Europe freight train's "opening" sugar and wine festival ignites a new international consumption model
45 countries and regions, over 6600 exhibitors, and over 300000 exhibits... The 110th National Sugar and Liquor Fair, currently being held in Chengdu, is bustling with activity. Located in Hall 12 of the Western China International Expo City Exhibition Area, the Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Asian Rong European Countries (Commodity) Pavilion Import Commodity Exhibition and Trading Area offers a wide range of imported fine wines and delicacies, with multiple foreign exhibitors negotiating business at the booth.
In front of the booth at the French (Commodity) Pavilion, the person in charge, Xu Dandan, was introducing wine from France to visiting merchants: "This exhibition, we will mainly focus on imported wine. We hope to strengthen our cooperation with French wineries and contact more downstream distributors through this sugar and wine fair."
In the imported food exhibition area of Hall 10, the Belgian National (Commodity) Museum invited a Belgian chocolate factory to set up a booth. "There are really many people here. Belgium is a country famous for chocolate, beer, diamonds, and Smurfs, and we are the only chocolate manufacturer that can use Smurf IP, so everyone is very interested in our products," said Lily Libit, the head of the Belgian chocolate factory.
It is understood that the import goods exhibition and trading area of the Asia Rong European Countries (Commodity) Pavilion in Qingbaijiang District showcases goods from 15 countries (commodity) pavilions including Belgium, Germany, France, Portugal, etc., covering multiple categories such as wine, tea, seasoning, chocolate, meat, milk powder, etc.
It is worth mentioning that these products are imported into China through international freight trains. On the morning of March 14th, a China Europe freight train originating from Tilburg, Netherlands arrived at Chengdu International Railway Port. Containers loaded with chocolate, toffee, red wine and other products were orderly unloaded and rushed to the booth of the Sugar and Wine Fair.
Sichuan Silk Road Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. has long chosen Chengdu International Train for import and export trade business. General Manager Su Chang said, "We hope to attract more international brands to join the national pavilion cluster and showcase their brands and products through the exhibition. At the same time, we will attract downstream channel merchants to purchase existing brands and provide services such as consolidation, transportation, and procurement."
Chris Jan Retzma, founder and chairman of Dutch DMQ company, said, "Participating in the Chengdu Sugar and Wine Fair is a beneficial exploration for us to open up the Chinese market. From the perspective of transportation security alone, the China Europe freight train transportation is undoubtedly the priority choice. Once a stable market is formed, we will have a continuous stream of products taking the freight train to come here."
Yan Yi, Deputy Director of Qingbaijiang Customs under Chengdu Customs, introduced, "We have tailored a 'customs clearance plan' for the Sugar and Wine Fair, set up green channels to prioritize customs clearance procedures, designated exhibition supervision warehouses and storage areas for centralized inspection, improved inspection efficiency, and provided efficient and convenient one-stop customs clearance services for participating goods."
At the 2024 Chengdu Import Carnival (Sugar and Wine Fair Station) held during the Sugar and Wine Fair, the promotion of overseas direct procurement mode attracted the attention of many domestic and foreign merchants on site. Many foreign brands have signed contracts for products such as chocolate, candy, meat, and wine, and have reached channel cooperation agreements with the Chengdu Retailers Association, Chengdu Cooking Association, and Chengdu Bar Association on leisure food, grain and oil snacks, and alcoholic beverages.
Cross border overseas direct procurement refers to the process of using general trade and e-commerce platforms to directly purchase goods from overseas source manufacturers and deliver them to purchasers through international logistics channels. Compared with traditional import models, the centralized overseas direct procurement model reduces the cost of enterprise product procurement, minimum order quantity threshold, as well as the inventory and financial risks of purchasers, thereby improving their profit margins.
"Taking imported brand chocolate as an example, adopting a centralized overseas direct procurement model, the purchase price of goods decreases by 10% to 20%, transportation costs decrease by 5% to 10%, and at the same time, there is less pressure on goods, less capital, and lower risk." Yao Zhengyi, Secretary General of Chengdu Foreign Trade Development Association, introduced.
According to statistics, as of now, Chengdu International Express has reached 108 cities overseas and 30 cities within China. The person in charge of the National Sugar and Wine Fair stated that the support of the Chengdu International Train has promoted full communication between businesses and consumers from different regions, provided more opportunities for cross regional cooperation and market expansion, and played an important role in connecting the East and West, North and South, and inside and outside of the Sugar and Wine Fair.