There are many different products on show, but everyone involved has only one thing to say - the event is a huge success EXHIBITORS AND BUYERS at the China Sourcing Fair: Gifts & Home Products, which opened yesterday and will end on Tuesday, are confident of success. With more than 3,600 booths, the gathering of mainland exhibitors will be the largest of its kind in Hong Kong this spring, according to organiser Global Sources. Products on display will include gifts and toys, kitchen and tableware, home decor and textiles, health and sports gear and stationery products made by low-cost manufacturers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. There will also be exhibitors from Malaysia, South Korea, the Philippines, India and Thailand. Show visitors and exhibitors have this to say: Isaac Tsang, assistant marketing manager of Ascent Accessories, exhibitor 'April is a very important time of year in the industry. We are expecting to get more than 250 contacts and 10 per cent of them will place orders. Exhibiting in the fair is part of our active strategy to get clients. We have a lot of confidence in this fair. We have already booked our booths for the 2007 fair.' Christina Poon, marketing manager of Toto Toys, exhibitor 'This is the first time we have exhibited at a Global Sources fair. The company has a big name and I trust they will organise a good fair. We have exhibited at other fairs and we hope that exhibiting with a new organiser will bring us new contacts. We are a toys company and we want to try the gifts market. Because we are just testing the water we don't expect to get a lot of orders from the fair. We mainly want to talk to interested parties, explore the possibilities and get feedback about our products.' Rosette Tao, sales executive of United Far East, exhibitor 'The location is perfect for us because our company is in Tung Chung. It is also convenient for foreign buyers to come from the airport and we mainly target foreign buyers. There are also a lot of mainland buyers and we are exploring the China market. So the fair fits us perfectly. The fair is huge with more than 3,600 booths and the timing is good, between the two phases of the Canton Fair. Global Sources and its fairs are well known and the company has been very helpful.' Elisa To, secretary of Hans Novelty, exhibitor 'The AsiaWorld-Expo is new. We wanted to see how it works. Some people might find it a bit far but Global Sources has good transport arrangements. And because the venue has booths all on the same floor, with no pillars, visitors can walk around more conveniently and comfortably.' Wylie Lai, general manager of Nova International, exhibitor 'The fair is better than we expected. It is the first Hong Kong exhibition for our brand Just Pet and is a good way to enter the Asian market. The location of our booth is pretty good.' Yang Ruixiong, manager of Qiaohua (Guangzhou) Electronic, exhibitor 'The China Sourcing Fairs always deliver excellent traffic and quality buyers. We're looking forward to more new sales opportunities with new buyers now that the shows are in Hong Kong.' Stephen Leung, manager of International Arts & Crafts, exhibitor 'We hope that by exhibiting in this new fair we can get some new importers' contacts. We sell mammoth ivory, which is really rare, so not many people know our products. This exhibition is big and has good timing. A lot of foreign visitors have been attracted to the fair, so more people can learn about our company.' Christopher Sellers, executive chairman of Agentrics, representing 50 global retailers with US$1 trillion in annual sales, buyer 'This venue is spectacular and the show is well organised. The number and quality of the exhibitors offers buyers from Agentrics member companies many new sourcing opportunities - with the great convenience of being in Hong Kong. This location and the timing of the China Sourcing Fairs offer definite advantages to Agentrics members. The number of new suppliers exhibiting is of great interest to buyers from our member companies.' Richard Bao, general manager of Mueller Electric China, buyer 'The China Sourcing Fairs are perfectly located and timed during the key April and October buying seasons. We can meet many new mainland suppliers in Hong Kong. To add to the convenience, the venue is right beside the airport.'
