From January 9 to 12, the Qingdao Council for the Promotion of International Trade organized five local enterprises to participate in the Heimtextil trade fair in Germany. As the city's first overseas exhibition delegation this year, they received over 200 visits from new and existing clients on-site, secured letters of intent exceeding 10 million yuan—tripling last year's results—and reaped substantial gains.

The Frankfurt Heimtextil fair is a heavyweight international event in the home textiles industry. This year's edition saw a nearly 17% increase in exhibitors compared to last year, with over 2,800 participants. Chinese enterprises accounted for one-third of the exhibitors from 60 countries and regions worldwide. During the event, Qingdao company booths were bustling with activity.

"Our company has attended the Frankfurt fair for over a decade, and this time we saw strong engagement from both new and existing clients," said Han Lei, General Manager of Qingdao Fuyuan Arts and Crafts Co., Ltd., which has over 30 years of experience in exporting household textiles to European and American markets. The company boasts a mature, professional team in design, manufacturing, and marketing. Han expressed satisfaction with the outcomes: "We not only maintained solid momentum with existing clients and products but also secured over US$600,000 worth of letters of intent on-site for new clients and products."

"The number of clients remained largely consistent with previous years," noted Wang Donglin, General Manager of Qingdao Zhuohuang Textile Co., Ltd., who shared three distinct observations from this year's fair. "Clients have become more demanding in selecting samples, setting increasingly higher standards; new clients are inquiring more thoroughly about the company itself as well as sample and product quality, making on-the-spot orders harder to secure; and many European clients are gradually diverting orders to Southeast Asian countries."

Wang explained, "Since the second half of 2022, multiple factors have converged, leading to sluggish economic performance in Europe. Since all our key clients are based in Europe, both our export value and profit margins have been significantly impacted. Under these circumstances, we feel an even stronger urgency to engage in face-to-face communication with clients to secure more orders."

Trade shows represent opportunities. "The first quarter sees a concentration of European exhibitions, serving as the window period for the European market to finalize annual order plans. We will organize enterprises to participate in seven key international exhibitions, five of which are in Europe," stated the head of the Trade Promotion Service Department at the Qingdao Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Compared with the same period in 2023, companies’ willingness to exhibit abroad this year is significantly stronger, and the frequency of "going global" will markedly increase.

To encourage more enterprises to actively "go global" and expand their markets, Qingdao has introduced more innovative measures to optimize services. In response to the high level of uncertainty in traditional markets, this year's recommendations for key international exhibitions will place greater emphasis on emerging markets, including countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. To enhance the overall image of Qingdao's advantageous foreign trade industries, the city plans to gather a richer array of enterprise resources within limited exhibition space. It will set up Qingdao exhibition zones at major international trade fairs such as the Tire Cologne in Germany and SIAL Paris in France, using unified high-standard booth designs to improve display effectiveness.

According to reports, to meet the significantly increased demand for overseas exhibition participation this year, the Qingdao Council for the Promotion of International Trade has carefully assessed over 150 high-quality international exhibitions and promptly shared the information with enterprises. These exhibitions cover major export categories including food and beverages, textiles and apparel, and hardware supplies.