Businesses in the food and cultural and creative industries are attending a commodity fair in China to tap into the Chinese market, the head of the nation’s main trade promotion body said yesterday.
Thirteen Taiwanese companies from the sectors are participating in the China Yiwu International Forest Product Fair in Zhejiang Province until Sunday, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) chairman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said.
Yiwu, a city of 1.2 million people in central Zhejiang, is considered the largest small commodities market in the world by the UN, the World Bank and Morgan Stanley, according to TAITRA.
Each year, more than 300,000 foreign businesspeople purchase in Yiwu, TAITRA said.
A total of 2,652 foreign companies from more than 90 countries have established representative offices in Yiwu, it added.
To help domestic companies gain a foothold in China, TAITRA has also organized more than 20 exhibitions of Taiwanese products in 14 cities in China since 2009.
A total of 11,879 companies and 6.28 million people have visited the exhibitions over the past four years and the shows have generated US$9.8 billion in business, the trade body said.
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