Chinese firms treat trade fair as testing ground for Southeast Asian market ambitions
10-nation bloc is China’s largest trading partner and an increasingly important alternative to Western markets amid US tariff war
A trade fair in the southern Chinese city of Nanning has become a testing ground for exporters shifting their focus to Southeast Asia.
Attracted by the region’s fast-growing economies and young consumers – and facing slowing demand in the West – many Chinese companies see the annual event as a potential gateway to court buyers and expand their overseas footprints.
Li Wenqi, a manager at an electric scooter and battery manufacturer in Jiangxi province, is among the exporters seeking new opportunities this year. His company has long relied on the European and American markets, but he said they were reaching their limits.
“The West is close to saturation, the Middle East is plagued by wars, and the world is only so big,” he said. “Southeast Asia, with its large population, offers huge potential.”
David Jenkins, vice-president of Loong EA, a company in Jiangsu province that specialises in energy-saving equipment and monitoring systems, said its local government – seeing its products as a good fit – had invited it to exhibit and had provided space at the fair.
While the company was still focused mainly on the domestic market, Jenkins said it hoped Southeast Asia would become one of its first overseas markets, and it attracted the interest of businesses from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei at the fair.