Hong Kong food and service providers held over a thousand business matching meetings at this year’s China International Import Expo (CIIE), which closed on 10 November at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai.

Hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, CIIE is the world's first national-level exhibition dedicated to imports.

This year, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) staged two pavilions – the Hong Kong Food Pavilion and the Hong Kong Services Pavilion – featuring 54 Hong Kong enterprises.

At the Hong Kong Food Pavilion 33 enterprises showcased a diverse range of products, including snack foods, health foods, innovative food items, beverages such tea and wine, grains, oils, food ingredients, and condiments.

On-site promotional activities included taste tests, free samples and product demonstrations, complemented by promotional sessions broadcast directly from the pavilion floor. Streaming over 9 hours per day, the broadcasts generated over one million impressions across major mainland shopping platforms, including JD.com, Douyin and RedNote.

Many companies used the event to pursue collaborations and sales partnerships.  Meat the Next — maker of functional foods, such as probiotics and plant-based proteins — secured agreements with two mainland enterprises for technology and marketing collaborations, and reported strong interest from buyers in the UK, Southeast Asia and other regions.

A senior manager at Kampery Development, another long-time exhibitor known for imported coffee and classic Hong Kong-style milk tea products, noted consistently high footfall throughout the exhibition and confirmed the company had established new agreements with wholesalers and online sale channels.

The Hong Kong Services Pavilion brought together 21 enterprises to showcase Hong Kong's strengths in innovation and technology, healthtech, financial and professional services, logistics and ICT. A series of seminars and business matching meetings enabled exhibitors to showcase their solutions and explore business opportunities with mainland and overseas enterprises.

Wine World Trading exhibited in the pavilion for the first time. CEO Lam Shuk-yee signed a memorandum of cooperation with a Shanghai-based cross-border e-commerce integrated services company aimed at strengthening the firm's supply chain management capabilities on the mainland.

Another exhibitor was Eieling Technology, which had exhibited its portable liver scan device at CIIE in 2023. This year the company had in-depth discussions with several hospitals, potentially paving the way to deploy its ground-breaking technology in the mainland and Japan.

Since the expo’s inception eight years ago, the HKTDC has facilitated the participation of nearly 400 Hong Kong enterprises, with the number of companies increasing each year.

Hong Kong’s presence at CIIE was further bolstered by an official forum held on 6 November to promote the city as the preferred platform for mainland enterprises to expand globally.

Organised by the Hong Kong SAR Government and the HKTDC, the forum marked the first large-scale promotional event held in the mainland as part of the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global (GoGlobal Task Force) initiative announced in the 2025 Policy Address.

The event convened speakers from government, industry and commerce, who highlighted the strengths of Hong Kong as an international platform for global business and attracted an audience of 500 corporate representatives from the innovation and technology, healthcare and professional services