Foreign companies, such as Decathlon, Danaher Corporation, Danone, and Siemens, who have been "old friends" in the China International Import Expo (CIIE), are optimistic about the Chinese market and are choosing to increase their investment in China this year.

Photo taken on Oct. 26, 2020 from the Sinar Mas Plaza shows a view of the Lujiazui area in Shanghai, east China. A light show will be held on Nov. 5 to celebrate the opening of the third China International Import Expo (CIIE), which will take place in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

At the third CIIE to be held in November, Decathlon, a French sporting goods retailer, revealed that it would hold a signing ceremony with Geek+, a Chinese robotics solution provider, in order to further increase new retail investment in the Chinese market.

Danaher will also ramp up its investment in China: a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at its 37,000 square meter first-phase plant in Suzhou Industrial Park at the end of the year. In July of this year, Danaher spent hundreds of millions of dollars to set up a new R&D and manufacturing base in Suzhou Industrial Park and a new customer-oriented experience center.

To seize opportunities such as the recovery of China's consumer market, Danone has continued to invest 100 million euros in China this year, including the construction of special nutrition production bases in Chinese cities like Qingdao and Wuxi and the establishment of an open scientific research center in Shanghai.

Siemens is also deepening its cooperation with Chinese enterprises in an all-round way. This past July, Siemens Energy Co., Ltd., registered in Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, received another capital injection of 3.8 billion yuan (about $570 million), making the total registered capital reach 4.1 billion yuan.

Recently, Siemens Mobility announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with Chongqing Liangjiang New Area and the establishment of its first 5G Center of Competence in China tasked with R&D and execution of programs in intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs), 5G and autonomous driving, among others.

In addition to the successive landing of investment projects, many high-quality foreign brands have poured into the Chinese market, promoting the upgrading of consumption in the Chinese market.

Taking Danone as an example, since the CIIE last year, Danone has introduced nearly 40 items from Germany, France and other countries to the Chinese market, among which nearly 10 new products are favored by consumers.

"With the help of the 'CIIE effect,’ the efficiency of Danone's new products arrival has been greatly improved and the sales channel has been further opened, " said Zhou Zhigang, vice president of Danone China.

Zhou also noted that "the CIIE is not only a global event, but also an important window for enterprises to participate in and share opportunities for China's economic growth. All previous expos have provided Danone with special development opportunities. "