The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has attracted nearly 56,000 buyers from over 130 countries and regions. About 60 percent of buyers were non-local, mainly from Mainland China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Taiwan, the United States, Japan and Korea.
The concurrent Asian Licensing Conference invited about 30 global industrial giants and insiders to share insights. Exhibitors and buyers have expected business and sales to return to pre-pandemic levels within 6 to 18 months.
“The development of the creative and knowledge-based economy has become a major driving force for global economic growth. For the first time in April, the HKTDC held seven major lifestyle and licensing events concurrently,” said Sophia Chong, Deputy Executive Director of the HKTDC.
“We are happy to see that many exhibitors were able to secure on-site orders, which is very encouraging.”
The Hong Kong Houseware Fair and the Hong Kong Fashion Week were rebranded as Home InStyle and Fashion InStyle, respectively, offering more diverse creative products to international buyers. The Licensing Show was repositioned to cover multiple lifestyle categories.
She added that Hong Kong was an important hub for promoting creativity and intellectual property trade, and the HKTDC hopes to seize more opportunities from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), ASEAN markets, CENTRESTAGE, and the Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair.
“The Cultural & Creative Corner has attracted the attention of buyers looking for unique products with cultural characteristics. We have connected with buyers from Hong Kong and Mainland China. We hope to develop long-term cooperation with them,” said Xie Yanhua, the Chairman of first-time participant Beijing Enamel Factory.
Under HKTDC’s EXHIBITION+ hybrid model, exhibitors and traders can connect online for another week beyond the physical fair days via the Click2Match smart business matching platform.
Italian company TVS Spa has exhibited at the HKTDC houseware fair since 2005 and has established connections with many new buyers from Ecuador, India, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
United Kingdom buyer Zahoor A Qurashi also visited the Printing and Packaging Fair, identified ten mainland exhibitors and expected to buy various types of food boxes from them with an estimated value of USD $250,000.
