GUANGZHOU, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- When Michael Jensen first visited the Canton Fair in 1998, he was looking for products to take to European markets. Nearly three decades and more than 40 visits later, the Asia general manager of Denmark's F&H Group is still making the trip to Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. But this year, he is looking to do more than sourcing products.
At the 140th edition of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, which opened in October, Jensen returned with over a dozen fellow buyers. While his company was looking for small kitchen appliances, ceramics, tableware and decorative items at the fair, Jensen and his fellow buyers also planned to visit more supplier factories across China to explore new products and fresh opportunities for cooperation.
For F&H Group, its ties with China have become central to its business. Founded in 1945 and headquartered in Viborg, Denmark, the company is one of Scandinavia's leading wholesalers of kitchenware, dining and home products, sourcing around 80 percent of its merchandise from China.
Over the years, F&H Group's partnership with China has evolved beyond simply taking Chinese-made products to European consumers. The company and its Chinese partners now work closely on product development, turning creative ideas into market-ready products by combining European design concepts with China's manufacturing capabilities.
For Jensen, this close cooperation carries particular significance. China's comprehensive, stable and efficient supply chain provides something increasingly precious to international businesses: certainty.
His experience reflects a broader evolution in China-EU economic cooperation, as long-standing trade ties develop into deeper partnerships built on complementary strengths and shared opportunities.
BUILDING LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIPS
The Canton Fair has flourished through openness and international cooperation for 70 years. Running in three phases from Oct. 15 to Nov. 4, the fair this year has evolved into China's largest and longest-running international trade event, attracting buyers from more than 220 countries and regions.
For Can Yildirim, chief technology officer of German home appliance maker Severin Elektrogerate GmbH, the fair remains an important venue for discovering new opportunities and identifying new products. Severin has been a regular participant in the fair for more than 30 years.
Over the past five to six years, the company's energy costs in Germany have surged by 250 percent, making it increasingly difficult to keep its products affordable, Yildirim said.
Take Severin's smokeless barbecue grill, one of its flagship products, as an example. Manufacturing it in Germany would make it too expensive for many consumers. By producing it in China, however, the company can leverage the country's high-quality manufacturing capabilities, design expertise and cost advantages to offer consumers a product that combines quality with affordability.
"Nearly all our new products come from China. That's also a major advantage for a German brand with a history of more than 130 years, as we serve customers around the world with the aim of 'premium for all,' which means affordable price, quality and design. From my point of view, it's a win-win situation," said Yildirim, whose company now operates its own production facility in Shenzhen in Guangdong Province.
For many European businesses like Severin Elektrogerate GmbH, the Canton Fair offers more than just a place to find new products. It is also an opportunity to strengthen long-term partnerships and secure reliable supply chains.
Eric Tang, sales manager of Germany's Stolfig Group, which specializes in magnesium materials for automotive and railway applications, sees China's extensive manufacturing ecosystem as a strategic advantage.
With a substantial share of global manufacturing taking place in China, supplying materials to factories there enables the company to reach customers and markets around the world. Stolfig has established a production facility in China to support its global operations.
Michael Schumann, chairman of the board of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, said in an interview last month that around 5,000 German companies operate in China and continue to expand their investments.
One notable development, he observed, is that German headquarters are increasingly looking to their Chinese operations for lessons and inspiration -- a sign that cooperation is evolving from traditional manufacturing and sourcing into a deeper exchange of technology, expertise and business practices.
For European companies, China's appeal lies not in any single cost advantage, but in its ability to combine manufacturing scale, product quality, fast and reliable delivery, and the capacity to serve global markets, industry insiders said.
DEMAND FOR COOLING SOLUTIONS CREATES NEW OPPORTUNITIES
With increasingly hot summers driving up demand for cooling products in Britain, Samir Sheikh-Warak, director of British company Lords Island Ltd., has placed an order for 1,000 Chinese-made air conditioners at the fair.
His order reflects a broader market trend that gained momentum this summer, as soaring temperatures across Europe drove up demand for air conditioners and encouraged more European businesses to turn to Chinese suppliers to tap into the growing market.
Asked why he chose Chinese products, Sheikh-Warak pointed to their combination of quality, cost and efficiency. "It's about who can work harder and make better products at cheaper prices. They're just doing a lot of things in a good, cheaper, faster way," he said.
Europeans' growing demand for cooling solutions is also creating opportunities for companies like Yildirim's. His company plans to launch seven affordable air-treatment products next May to help European consumers cope with hotter weather. After deciding to enter this emerging market, it quickly found suitable partners in China.
But for Yildirim, a successful partnership takes more than placing orders. It begins with seeing things firsthand.
He encourages European buyers to visit Chinese factories and observe production processes for themselves. Many factories, he noted, have adopted full or semi-automated production, offering visitors a glimpse of the country's manufacturing capabilities.
"All of those factories have full automation or semi-automation. We should do the visit, open our eyes and start a nice dialogue. This is the best way for both sides to learn from each other," he said.
Such face-to-face exchanges are helping take China-EU business ties beyond traditional buyer-supplier relationships toward deeper industrial partnerships.
Liu Chun, president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, said China's comprehensive industrial system, growing innovation capacity and advances in smart and green manufacturing are encouraging Chinese and foreign companies to deepen supply chain coordination and explore cooperation in a wider range of fields. ■
