The CIIE, the world’s largest trade fair dedicated to imports, offers privileged access to a market of 1.4 billion consumers.
The China Pavilion at the 8th CIIE, November 8, 2025
Debuting at the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE), held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, German functional soft drink SUPER POP was a resounding success. Co-developed with the famous fitness influencer Pamela Reif, its sugar-free formula, already popular on Instagram, chose the CIIE this year as a springboard to explore the Chinese market.
The CIIE is the world’s first national-level exhibition dedicated to imports. During his opening speech for the 1st edition in 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized that this exhibition reflected “a major policy for China to promote a new round of opening-up at the highest level as well as a major step for China to take the initiative to open its market to the world”.
Since its creation, the CIIE has established itself as a reference platform for foreign companies wishing to enter the Chinese market. This year’s edition recorded a record exhibition area and brought together an unprecedented 4,108 companies from 138 countries and regions. The number of companies from 123 Belt and Road partner countries increased by 23.1% compared to 2024. There were also 163 companies from least developed countries, an increase of 23.5% year-on-year. The presence of African companies increased by 80% compared to the previous edition.
The event saw the launch of 461 new products, technologies and services. It also introduced new themes, such as the pet economy, the ice and snow economy, and digital consumption.
The stand of the American company 3M at the 8th CIIE, November 5, 2025
Strong partnerships
The American technology group 3M, present on a global scale and active in diversified sectors, participated in the CIIE for the eighth consecutive year. The company presented various innovative material solutions intended to accelerate the green transition of multiple industries.
For 3M, the CIIE represents a major platform both for promoting its innovations and for consolidating its local partnerships. Henry Ding, president of 3M China, highlighted the company’s continued commitment to adapting its technologies to the specifics of the Chinese market.
At the same time, 3M took advantage of the CIIE to sign a strategic cooperation protocol with the American chemical group Dow, aiming to jointly explore the field of green technologies. This collaboration demonstrates the key role of the CIIE as a preferred meeting platform for major global players.
The French group Lesaffre, a global player in fermentation, also participated for the eighth time in the CIIE. Jérôme Vanachter, president of Lesaffre Greater China, stressed that the company, having noted the continued expansion of the Chinese market over the years, intended to continue its exploration there.
The group today has six production sites and four baking centers in China, including that of Shanghai, established as the first industrialized center in the Asia-Pacific region, to better serve its local partners.
For its part, the German chemical specialist Evonik presented several innovations, actively exploring collaborations with Chinese companies, such as the sports brand 361° and several cosmetics manufacturers.
Among its notable achievements, Evonik developed a lightweight, highly elastic nylon foam for sports shoes, produced from recycled materials and reducing carbon emissions by 70%.
The company has also implemented green biogas separation technologies in China, which facilitate the efficient production of clean energy. Already deployed in more than 70 projects, these technologies treat, in the province of Jiangsu, 300,000 tonnes of agricultural waste per year, thus producing 8.76 million cubic meters of biogas.
International influence
The Chinese robotics company ULS Robotics, founded in 2018 in Shanghai, participated in the CIIE for the third consecutive year. The company presented its flagship products, including its powered exoskeletons. Equipped with hip joints, these devices allow their users to run with reduced effort. The company’s solutions are already deployed in industries as diverse as automotive, firefighting, mining and power generation.
“The CIIE serves as an exceptional springboard to promote our exoskeletons and solutions internationally,” said Zhang Hua, co-founder of ULS Robotics. The company already exports its products to 25 countries and regions, including Germany, Canada and Malaysia. According to Mr. Zhang, exoskeletons have reached a decisive milestone, moving from industrial use to daily applications for the elderly or people with disabilities.
The Chinese collectibles retailer Pop Mart, whose flagship product Labubu is a global success, created a dreamlike world of 600 m2 during this edition. The space featured a 5m tall statue of Twinkle Twinkle (another brand character), bespoke themed photo booths and eleven new character designs revealed exclusively.
Pop Mart, which participated in the CIIE for the first time last year, presented a series of Labubu designed to attract foreign customers. In 2024, its revenue reached more than 700 million yuan in North America and 2.4 billion yuan in Southeast Asia, recording spectacular year-on-year growth of nearly 500% and 600%, respectively.
The CIIE has once again illustrated China’s commitment to economic opening and its leading role in international trade. “China remains the global manufacturing heartland, but its production is gaining sophistication as it moves up the value chains,” analyzed Richard Baldwin, professor of international economics at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. And added: “In a tense geopolitical context, China could play a stabilizing role, helping to ease tensions and preserve the continuity of international affairs. »
At the opening ceremony, Chinese Premier Li Qiang noted that the record number of participating companies this year demonstrated the vitality and immense potential of the Chinese market.
He recalled that the Proposals on the Development of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), adopted at the 4th Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held in Beijing from October 20 to 23, provided greater certainty about the direction of China’s economic and social development in the years to come.
The premier reaffirmed China’s commitment to high-level opening-up, including expanding institutional opening-up and accelerating the opening-up of the service sector. “A more modernized China will certainly bring more stability and positive energy to the world,” he concluded.
*LI XIAOYANG is a journalist at
(Shanghai correspondents MA XIAOWEN and WANG RUOHAN also contributed to this article.)
