At China’s big import fair, sellers try to crack a tough market

There’s something for everyone at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai: American soybeans, German fountain pens, vitamins from Canada, camera lenses from Japan, blueberries from Zimbabwe.

Ultimately what’s on display is the world’s desire for a slice of the market in China’s $21 trillion economy – a notoriously big ask, especially when it comes to manufactured goods. How do you sell to a country that already produces almost everything, and is rapidly figuring out how to make the rest?

That’s one aspect to the trade tensions around China’s giant surplus. The US and Europe say China floods the world with exports that threaten local producers, while not offering enough of a market in return. Beijing counters that it’s eager for imports and would buy more, if it wasn’t for the curbs on high-tech goods that partners have imposed. Chinese imports surged last month, though that’s largely down to soaring prices for energy and AI chips, and the 2026 trade gap still passed $1 trillion with two months left.


As politicians wrangle and economists crunch numbers, the 4,000-plus companies that showed up in Shanghai have their eye on business. Bloomberg News spoke to more than a dozen executives, sales reps and diplomats at the five-day event, which wrapped up Tuesday.

Most said that tapping China, with its 1.4 billion population, is essential. And there was broad consensus that it can be done — but it’s getting harder. Chinese demand is subdued and sellers can no longer rely on international names. They increasingly need an edge, in technology or craftsmanship, that local rivals can’t easily replicate.

Here’s a roundup of how businesses described their opportunities, challenges and strategies for success in exporting to China.

It can be done: Some producers retain a tech edge…

China’s production of water heaters has been on the rise, but Zhang Huiqiang — who manages the Guangzhou operations for Japanese manufacturer Rinnai Corp. — still imports premium lines from Japan. Chinese factories can’t make them yet, he says. And as China has gotten richer, and large homes became more widespread, there’s more demand for the specialized features such machines offer. Precise temperature control for filling bathtubs, for example, is especially important for older people and children.

Precision is key to the demand for Nikon Corp.’s photo equipment too. The firm is catering to a narrower market nowadays, thanks to competition from smartphones and DJI’s action cameras. But its premium interchangeable-lens systems still appeal to dedicated photographers, and it’s an area where Chinese rivals have yet to close the gap. Japan is still ahead in core precision optics, sensor technology and nanometer-level manufacturing, according to Nikon staffer Zhang Chenhao.

At the Siemens Healthineers AG stand, the German company was showcasing a PET/CT scanner that has 40 times the sensitivity of conventional models. It costs 70 million yuan and can complete a full patient scan in 20 seconds. A unit was installed in April in Beijing, and more are planned for top Shanghai hospitals, said salesman Shi Lei.

Sometimes the edge that foreign producers enjoy isn’t about machinery. For Xu Zhengguo, who’s been selling Czech glassware in China since 1998, it comes down to physics. Czech lead-free crystal has a density of 2.6 against 2.4 for standard glass. That gap is enough to produce a crisper ring — and stems so slender that Chinese imitators had to make their own versions thicker, to stop them snapping.

...Chinese buyers still want niche imports...

Muneer, who runs a cashmere plant in Kashmir, sells handmade scarves using natural dyes and Himalayan goat wool. Chinese manufacturers can’t replicate this at scale, he says. And a hand-embroidered scarf, priced at nearly 49,000 yuan ($7,350), is less a purchase than an investment — appreciating in value the way a carpet or a diamond might.

Almond ROCA tends not to last that long. But Brown & Haley, the Tacoma, Washington-based confectioner that makes the chocolate-covered toffee nut candy, says China is now its biggest export market. Stacy Kadolph, the company’s vice president of supply chain, says success is based on a formula guarded by ROCA masters back at HQ, who’ve all been on the job for at least 35 years. “When we say it’s a secret recipe, it is a secret,” she says.

Germany’s Lamy — a maker of fountain pens that’s owned by Mitsubishi Pencil Co. — has been posting double-digit growth in China. That comes down to relentless localization, according to China sales director Andrew Ma: pens specially designed for Chinese characters, calligraphy-themed packaging, and collaborations with Pokémon and Hello Kitty. “Gen-Z is the future,” Ma says.

...And consumers trust safety regulations abroad

There have been fewer examples lately, but a string of consumer-health scandals in China led some shoppers to put more faith in foreign standards. That gives import brands an edge in areas “where safety remains imperative, such as outdoor gear or baby-related products,” says Mark Tanner, managing director of Shanghai-based marketing firm China Skinny, though he warns the advantage is on the wane.

For Jamieson Wellness Inc., a Toronto-based maker of vitamins and nutritional supplements, China is the second-largest market and one reason boils down to confidence about what’s in the bottle. “The Chinese consumer is the most discerning consumer on quality, on trust, on heritage and on efficacy,” says Chief Executive Mike Pilato.

But it’s getting harder: Demand is subdued...

China’s two-speed economy is at the heart of trade debates. It’s increasingly powered by exports while households tighten their belts, spurring calls for decisive steps from Beijing to shift the balance.

The squeeze on domestic spending was noted by many exhibitors in Shanghai. Xu, the seller of Czech glassware, pointed to a drop in purchasing power, though he said there’s still a reliable market among international-class hotels that require brand-name imports. Demand for Nikon’s cameras has been hit by economic headwinds as well as rival tech.

There’s a similar trend in corporate hospitality. Qinghai Huzhu Tianyoude is a Shenzhen-listed company that makes the traditional Chinese spirit baiju. It bought a California winery in 2014, but now sees sluggish demand from Chinese wine-lovers.

In business entertainment, “nowadays people want to use cheaper alcohol to achieve the aim of hosting,” said Annie Wu, China region general manager of the firm’s Napa Valley winery. Compared to baijiu, “the default alcohol embedded in Chinese culture, wines from California are too pricey.”

...Tariffs don’t help...

Wu’s wines have also been subject to tariff rates that exceeded 100% at one point in the tit-for-tat trade war with the US. That’s been an issue for soybeans too, and more broadly for the US farm products that dominated the American exhibit in Shanghai, a 400-square-meter “Food and Agriculture Pavilion.”

Things might be improving thanks to the recent trade truce, with deals worth more than $650 million struck on the fair’s opening day. Jason Hafemeister of the US Foreign Agricultural Service points out that China was once America’s largest agriculture market, worth nearly $40 billion a year, and expresses optimism that tariff talks could restore trade to those levels. “Given a fair and predictable trading environment,” he says, “we will be able to thrive here.”

Outside of the US and Europe, tariffs are less of a problem. Muneer says the rates on his cashmere wool products have actually been heading down.

...And above all, the local competition keeps getting better

Whether they make glassware, camera lenses, water heaters or hospital equipment, there was near-unanimity among the exhibitors in Shanghai on one point. China’s manufacturing prowess means the challenge from domestic producers is growing, and will likely keep doing so.

After expounding the merits of Siemens’ PET scanner, representative Shi was asked if the company faces stiff competition from Chinese rivals in medical equipment more broadly. “Yes…” he began. Then a publicist cut him off.

Touring his country’s stand, Japan’s Ambassador to China Kenji Kanasugi paused outside a photo sticker booth — testimony to Japanese soft power — and offered a candid summary.

“We have certain sophisticated technologies which China cannot produce at this moment,” he said. And given the crucial importance of Chinese markets, Japan needs to make sure things stay that way: “It’s a race against time.”