First China International Consumer Products Expo to be held in Hainan

Photo shows the venue of the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center, Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Mao)

The first China International Consumer Products Expo, or Hainan Expo, is scheduled to be held from May 7 to 10 in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan Province. Vast numbers of domestic and international consumer products will be exhibited at the event.

It is reported that the exhibition will cover a total area of 80,000 square meters, including 60,000 square meters of international exhibition space.

So far, 1,193 international brands from 69 countries and regions have confirmed their participation, including L'Oreal, Rémy Martin, Shiseido, Kao, Johnson & Johnson, Dell and Swarovski.

"I used all my duty-free shopping quota in Hainan's Sanya a couple of months ago, and I'm planning to go all out at the upcoming Hainan Expo since I heard the consumption made at the event is not included in the 100,000-yuan ($20,485) duty-free shopping quota," said a woman surnamed Wang from Beijing, who has just booked her second flight to Hainan this year. "I'll focus more on baby care products and cosmetics this time," she added.

Thanks to the offshore duty-free shopping policy that Hainan adopted July the last year, consumption has become an important part on the agenda of tourists visiting the province. According to customs statistics, a total of nearly 1.79 million tourists consumed 17.75 million pieces of duty-free products in Hainan, which leads to a duty-free shopping volume of 13.57 billion yuan. The three figures increased 355.7 percent, 327.7 percent and 176.8 percent from a year ago, respectively.

During this year's Spring Festival holiday, the sales volume of Hainan's duty-free shops doubled from two years ago.

Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the Communist Party of China Hainan Provincial Committee, said on a recent press conference that the offshore duty-free shopping volume of the province might exceed 60 billion yuan this year.

As China's per capita GDP hits $10,000 and the country enters a new phase of consumption upgrading, the Chinese people are having an increasing demand for high-quality commodities.

Last year, the country imported 1.57 trillion yuan of consumer products, up 8.2 percent year on year and outrunning the growth of the import of goods in the same period. In the first quarter this year, China's cross-border e-commerce platforms imported 138.7 billion yuan of products, up 15.1 percent.

Goldmax, a formula brand from New Zealand, has put its products onto the shelves of multiple duty-free shops in Hainan Province since it was introduced to the Chinese market by GOVKING Group, a Chinese infant formula and supplement retailer, in 2008.

"We are confident that we'll attract more consumers at the Hainan Expo," said Wu Suguo, president of GOVKING Group.

Over 20,000 professional buyers are expected to gather at the Hainan Expo, and the expo is about to witness 200,000 visits. Thirty-four delegations formed by 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, as well as Xiamen and Dalian, two cities under separate state planning, will attend the expo to exhibit their quality products and time-honored brands.

"Chinese consumers have a very strong demand for a better life, as well as high-quality and healthy consumption," said an executive of Johnson & Johnson China. The company is confident about its high-quality development in China, the executive added.