SHANGHAI, China — Overseas exhibitors with the exception of a few large American and European big name firms, find the potential China market is still a riddle to solve. 

Those who are working with Hong Kong based agents, or with an agent in China have a long way to go to establish a distribution network;   retailing still seems  to be a challenging task. 

These were some of the findings at Intertextile Shanghai this year. The next show location shifts to a brand new facility close to Hongqiao airport, Shanghai. This may hep the Western producers’search for new China based customers.   

Boyteks, the fast growing Bursa, Turkey based mill, finally smiled after its fifth showing as the company finally signed an agreement for distribution with a Chinese partner. ‘Yes finally  we made it  and we look forward to market our high-end upholstery collections and mattress ticking through 200 retailers, said Mevlut Baydar, Senior Marketing Manager, Boyteks.

Escolys had a different tale to share. Escolys, a producer of interior decoration fabrics,said it is still finding ways to partner with a local distribution company in China after two showings in Shanghai.   “Currently we market through our agent based in Hong Kong and we export  from Hong Kong. This is a long route to reach the China market. We need to establish  a workable system to reach the Chinese retailers’ said Dirk de Wilde, Sales Manager.

Companies like Shanghai Orient West Decorative Fabrics Co., Ltd. are jubilant  with improving market conditions; entry to new territories is   rewarding while the domestic demand  is booming too. ’We recently signed our biggest single order for eight million meters of printed bedding fabrics from a China based customer and current capacity of 100 million meters is tied up and expansion continues,” said David Li, CEO. US markets are warming up too and entry to Brazil with full-fledged warehouse and distribution is in place,” he said while adding “the company wants to repeat the same in Argentina too. We have also entered the US retail market with  top retail  chains since June 2014. We will emphasise printing and outdoor fabrics will be launched soon,” Li said.

In the past shows, Zhejiang Shengli Textile Co. Ltd,, China, wrote spot orders during the show but not anymore. Nevertheless, the show was satisfactory to Shengli and it was more a renewal of contacts with its regular domestic buyers. “From overseas we had expected more buyers,  but was limited to Middle East and UAE customers’, commented Yunsong Yao, President, Shengli Textile.  

This  20th edition of Intertextile Shanghai, had a 10 percent increase in buyera to 43,189 buyers from 94 countries with 1,334 exhibitors (highest  ever the show organizer says) from 31 countries and regions  while the top five visitor countries and regions besides Mainland China were Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Russia and the US. 

‘We are now holding the next edition in 2015 at a brand new venue, which will provide better facilities at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (Shanghai) announced, Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager and Grace Lin Assistant Group Manager, Trade Fairs, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, Hong Kong. 

Why is the show moving to a new location? ‘ The new location is easier and more visitor friendly in terms of location proximities, which is closer to other airports as well each hall is much bigger; almost twice the size of the current halls and we will be able to house all the international exhibitors in one hall alone,” Wen explained.  The new location will be closer to the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, and is closer to the city center than Pudong Airport . It is a brand new building and we have to be ready for further growth by adding better services to exhibitors as well as to visitors,” she added.

According to a study done by HKTDC (Hong Kong Trade & Development Council) China’s furniture market is vastly expanding in replacement market as there were about 438.93 million households.  Based on the assumption that people would replace their home furniture once every 10 years, around 44 million households would replace their furniture each year at a cost of Rmb1,000 on average. The total value of the furniture replacement market would amount to Rmb44 billion a year. Moreover, urbanisation, as China’s leading policy of stimulating domestic demand in the years to come, is bound to bolster the development of the furniture market.