From Philippine pineapples to French cosmetics: What’s still on China’s shopping list?
CNA speaks to exporters and industry experts at Shanghai’s flagship import expo about what China still wants from the world, as foreign suppliers face a tougher sell.
A giant banana replica on display at the Goodfarmer exhibition booth during the China International Import Expo (CIIE) on Nov 6, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Tan Wen Lin)
New: You can now listen to articles.
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
SHANGHAI: Honey-sweet pineapples from the Philippines, juicy blueberries from Peru and a new variety of apple that was bred in the Netherlands.
At Goodfarmer Fruit Group’s sprawling stand at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), the produce drew plenty of interest – and offered a glimpse of something China still needs from the rest of the world.
Much of China’s climate is unsuitable for growing tropical fruit such as bananas and pineapples on a large scale, said Wu Ying, deputy general manager of the company’s international brands division.
“Hainan is growing them, but I think there’s still demand for imports,” Wu told CNA.
Goodfarmer has attended all nine editions of the annual Shanghai trade fair, betting on China’s appetite for imported fruit.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
This year’s edition, which ran from Nov 5 to 10, drew a record 4,142 overseas companies from 148 countries and regions, according to organisers. More than 2,000 of these businesses exhibited at the CIIE for the first time.
That appetite has held up even as Chinese consumers tighten their belts elsewhere, Wu said.
“People aren’t really buying luxury goods now, but with some premium fruit, they feel that the bar isn’t that high – and are still very willing to try it,” Wu added.
Goodfarmer’s fruit business has grown by more than 20 per cent this year, Wu said – with its products sold in about 55,000 stores across China.
Its latest addition, bananas from Peru, took just five months to gain entry into the country and are expected to reach stores around Chinese New Year, according to Wu.
Organic Peruvian blueberries, which the company began importing last year, followed five years of talks between the two countries, she added.
Also at the trade fair was New Zealand-based natural health and wellness company Comvita – which has carved out a niche for its premium manuka honey among quality-minded consumers in major Chinese cities.
“They are buying New Zealand manuka honey with a clear origin, scientifically studied, distinctive natural properties and independently verified quality,” its chief executive Karl Gradon told CNA.
That distinction matters in a country hardly short of product.
China produces more honey than any other country, according to United Nations data – accounting for around a quarter of the world’s total.
And Chinese honey brands are “strong competitors”, Gradon said.
“The premium has to be earned through the product and the confidence behind it,” Gradon said.
WHAT’S STILL ON CHINA’S SHOPPING LIST?
China is still buying from the world. But as its manufacturers move up the value chain, its wants and needs are changing – and so is what it takes to sell there.
“The reality is that the imports that China needs aren’t necessarily exports that other countries are producing,” said Cameron Johnson, senior partner at Shanghai consultancy Tidalwave Solutions.
But the market for foreign goods is not shrinking, he said.
“I wouldn’t say it’s smaller; I think it’s just shifting,” added Johnson.
At CIIE, imported food, medical devices and certain technology held the most appeal for Chinese buyers, Johnson said.
For its part, Beijing has pledged to buy more from abroad.
At the event’s opening ceremony on Nov 5, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang said the country would import more quality goods and services – and had never “deliberately pursued a trade surplus”.
Customs data released on Nov 10 showed China’s imports rising 23.6 per cent in the first 10 months of 2026 – outpacing export growth of 17.6 per cent.
Yet its goods trade surplus still surpassed US$1 trillion – around 8 per cent more than the same period last year.
MORE THAN RAW MATERIALS
For countries rich in natural resources, China’s vast market still offers ample opportunities.
Mato Grosso, Brazil’s biggest soybean-growing state, was at the import expo – showcasing soybeans, beef, sesame and beans.
Local farmers can harvest up to three crops a year from the same land, said Frederico Azevedo e Silva, superintendent of Sistema OCB/MT, which represents the state’s cooperatives.
He does not see China’s efforts to raise its own agriculture output as a threat.
“There’s no competition between China and Brazil. In that sense, they’re complementary,” he said in response to a question raised by CNA during a press session.
But even for an agricultural powerhouse like Brazil, China’s demand is selective.
China buys relatively little Brazilian corn because it produces so much of its own, said Ariana Guedes de Oliveira, international affairs director at Invest in Mato Grosso, the state’s investment agency.
“We only export corn to China when there’s some weather disruption that affects its domestic production,” she added.
The central African nation of Gabon made its CIIE debut this year – showcasing palm oil, coffee, tea and locally made beverages. Its president, Brice Oligui Nguema, also addressed the opening ceremony.
“Gabon is a young country, full of opportunities,” Marius Issa Nkori, director general of CDC Gabon, the country’s state deposit fund, told CNA.
“The idea is to show what’s being done in Gabon, what opportunities there are, and what others could also bring us.”
China has also moved to widen access for African exports, offering zero-tariff treatment to imports from African countries with which it has diplomatic ties.
Timber “is in first place” among the Gabonese products that stand to gain, followed by mining, said Issa Nkori.
But access to the Chinese market is only part of the challenge.
Investment is also needed to develop industries that can add value to Gabon’s natural resources, he said.
WHAT STILL SELLS – AND WHY
For Singapore businesses, trust remains a selling point, said Mark Lee, chairman of the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).
This year, it brought 54 Singaporean companies to the Shanghai expo.
He pointed to long queues for Singapore food, like kaya toast.
But Singapore companies still need to innovate, he said.
“There’s no long-term sustainable advantage unless you continue to have innovation and transformation within your own companies,” Lee told CNA.
For French beauty giant L’Oreal, what gets imported into China depends largely on where a product sits in the Chinese market.
The group has been in business in China for nearly 30 years and has exhibited at CIIE every year.
“Roughly, more than 60 per cent of our products are made locally in China and about 40 per cent are imported,” said Lan Zhenzhen, chief corporate affairs and engagement officer for the group in North Asia and China.
Mass-market products, including L’Oreal Paris and Maybelline, are “basically all made in China”, she said – where production is “bigger and faster in scale”.
Luxury labels such as Lancome and YSL are another matter, she added. “Almost everything is imported from abroad.”
For Lan, what sets China apart is its consumers.
“In this market we see the most knowledgeable, the most discerning and the most demanding consumers,” she said.
WHERE CHINA IS CLOSING THE GAP
China is also making more of what it once imported from other countries.
Cao Hailun, general manager of Shanghai Bailian Group Co, a listed retailer whose more than 40 member companies include department stores, shopping malls and outlets across the country, sees the shift on his shelves.
In skincare, international high-end brands are still holding their ground, and Bailian is buying more of them every year, he told CNA during a media session.
But mid- and low-priced brands, whose brand competitiveness wasn’t strong to begin with are losing out to domestic Chinese ones, he added.
A similar shift is playing out in the sportswear market, where domestic labels are “rising strongly”, he said.
Sports brands that have “stuck rigidly to their original style” and failed to adapt to Chinese consumers are fast losing market share, Cao said.
For international brands hoping to stay relevant and competitive, Cao sees two approaches: adapt to Chinese culture – or develop products with the help of the country’s domestic supply chains.
He cited an Adidas jacket with traditional Chinese-style knot buttons, first sold exclusively in China, as an example of localisation.
“If you’re not competitive enough, then I think you’ll gradually be replaced by emerging domestic brands in markets all over the world,” Cao said.
And the shift goes beyond consumer goods.
China now produces much of the machinery, chemicals, speciality materials and components it once bought, noted Johnson from Tidalwave Solutions.
“They make a lot more machinery now than they used to,” he said – pointing to the impact on suppliers like Japan, South Korea, Germany and, to some extent, the United States.
Even the import expo had Chinese technology on show.
Johnson said he saw a flying car made by Chinese automaker Xpeng, which state-run newspaper Guangming Daily reported was drawing enquiries from European exhibitors at the expo.
China’s manufacturing advantage comes from the industrial ecosystem it has built around its factories, Johnson said.
“You have the engineers, enough electricity, infrastructure and you can move stuff around,” he added.
Foreign suppliers still hold an edge in high-end medical equipment, specialist machinery and calibration tools used in aerospace, Johnson said.
But even there, “China definitely is closing the gap in a lot of those areas”.
TOUGHER MARKET FOR FOREIGN FIRMS
For some foreign businesses, China’s growing manufacturing strength has come with another challenge: barriers to competing in its domestic market.
Carlo D’Andrea, vice president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, told CNA that 54 per cent of its members reported losing business because of market access barriers.
He pointed to information and communications technology – where foreign-invested firms held more than 70 per cent of China’s market during the 2G era, compared with 3 per cent in the current 5G era.
Still, the top challenge facing European businesses was China’s economic slowdown – followed by price wars with local competitors, D’Andrea said.
“How many fridges can you buy? How many TVs?”
He also sees an upside to the competition.
“China is a fitness centre for our companies in order to be able to compete globally,” he said.
Business confidence among the chamber’s members has also begun to improve, he said, describing China as a “safe harbour” amid geopolitical tensions such as the Iran war, which began in late February and has disrupted global supply chains.
Johnson from Tidalwave Solutions recalled a recent trip to Southeast Asia – where factories that once used German, Japanese and South Korean machines were now buying Chinese ones.
“When you ask suppliers why (they are) using more Chinese machinery now, they say it does 80 per cent of the work, for 20 per cent of the cost,” Johnson said.
The country’s manufacturing dominance has also fuelled concerns about a “China squeeze” – the argument that its strength in lower end manufacturing is leaving poorer countries with less room to industrialise and build industries of their own.
Ding rejected the theory in his CIIE opening speech.
The theory “simply does not hold water,” Ding said, pointing to Chinese backed industrial parks in African and Southeast Asian countries that boosted local employment.
G Bin Zhao, founding chairman of the Global CEO Institute, an executive training and business strategy think tank, told CNA that China’s low prices and production efficiency were not signs of unfair competition.
But he said critics have a point that in some industries, “local governments’ industrial support, preferential financing and fierce competition among companies may lead to overinvestment and continually falling prices”.
“China should not only continue to be the world’s factory, but also go further in becoming the world’s market,” Zhao said, calling for Chinese households to spend more.
ADAPTING TO A DIFFERENT MARKET
For foreign businesses, staying competitive in China increasingly means offering something different – or changing how they operate.
Singapore companies, for one, must now see China as both a customer and a competitor, said SBF’s Lee.
“You cannot just say it’s either a customer or a competitor. It is both,” he said.
“If you’re selling a very commoditised product that really has no brand or you are competing just on price, then it will be very difficult going forward,” he added.
The competition is also becoming more visible in Singapore, where Chinese consumer brands are making inroads.
William Chen, chief executive of CNPRO Group, a Singapore-based firm that helps Chinese brands enter Southeast Asian markets, said brands could enter in as little as three months with his company’s help.
Singapore brands heading in the other direction remain relatively small, Chen added, but can benefit from a reputation for quality.
“People feel that Singapore’s quality may be better,” he said.
Other exporters are moving into higher-value products.
At CIIE, Mato Grosso’s stand also featured beers and other beverages, as well as Brazilian snacks alongside its commodities.
“What we’re going to do from this year on is work on higher value-added products,” said Guedes de Oliveira from Invest in Mato Grosso.
For some Singapore businesses, adapting also means teaming up with Chinese firms.
Lee from SBF cited the example of Singapore’s ComfortDelGro, which piloted robotaxis in Guangzhou with Chinese autonomous-driving company Pony.ai last year.
The two companies opened a self-driving shuttle service to the public in Singapore’s Punggol district on Jun 22. It launched with five vehicles on a fixed route between housing estates, a train station and shopping malls, with a safety operator on board.
“It’s a classic case whereby you use a Chinese tech, you are able to do a pilot, and then after that you localise it,” Lee said.
So who can still sell to China? Comvita’s Gradon offered an answer.
“China has taught us that a strong brand needs to keep earning its place,” he said.
Source: CNA/xy(ht)
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
