Food exhibitors and buyers meet in Shanghai before first CIIE

Food exhibitors and buyers met up in a matchmaking session in Shanghai on Thursday to communicate and connect before the first China International Import Expo in November.  

The session brought together 35 overseas food and agricultural exhibitors, including several Fortune 500 companies such as Louis Dreyfus Company BV, Pernod Ricard Asia Duty Free, R Twining & Company, Migros Genossenschafts Bund, Metro AG, Mars Company, Bunge Asia Pte, Wilmar International, Cargill Incorporated, and Brazil's JBS.

Also present at the session were 36 buyers, including central enterprises such as China Resources, local large state-owned enterprises like Bright Food, Bailian Group and Orient International, foreign companies like Walmart, Metro AG and Takashimaya, and e-commerce platforms Alibaba and JD.com.

"Today's meeting offers a great opportunity before the expo for close interaction between the buyers and exhibitors," an unnamed spokesman for Orient International said. "And I believe that this will be extremely helpful to match supply with demand."

Over 1,000 exhibitors in the food and agricultural product sector from nearly 100 countries or regions will take part in the first CIIE, said Tang Guifa, chief executive of the National Exhibition and Convention Center Co.