More foreign brands and companies are looking at the Chinese market for growth as the country attaches more importance to intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, technology and innovation.

The Canton Fair, China’s largest trade fair in southern Guangzhou, for the first time attracted a US real estate company.

Bay Realty Group Inc rented three standard booths for the exhibition that is under way in three phases through Nov 4.

"We are the first US real estate company to come to the fair, but we will not be the last one," said Johnny Wang, vice president of the California company.

"The huge potential of the Chinese market encouraged us to make the crucial step," Wang said.

More than 380 enterprises from 35 countries and regions gathered at the 15,000-sq-m import zone of the fair, looking for a share in the Chinese market to offset losses in the European and US markets during the ongoing financial crisis.

Their products ranged from electronics and food to home appliances and real estate. Some just began to make plans to explore the Chinese market this year.

TS Meditech Co Ltd, one of the 110 enterprises from the Republic of Korea, exhibited two sets of exercise and therapy equipment.

TS Meditech Managing Director Su-Ho Choi said the major markets for the products were in the United States and Europe, but added that demand shrank in the wake of the recession.

"We hope to find Chinese distributors at the fair to enter the market, which we think have a large demand," he said.

Y.P. Cheng, board chairman of Hong Kong-based Matrix Lighting Inc, was also eyeing the Chinese market for his LED bulbs.

"The price for each energy-saving bulb is as high as $8.50. That’ s too high for the Chinese customers," he said.

"We are trying to reduce the price by half in a year so that the products are affordable and popular in the Chinese market," Cheng said.

Cheng said he had confidence to compete with other LED bulb manufacturers on the mainland.

"Our products could make each bulb save up to $97 in energy costs annually, increasing the competitiveness of our products. China’ s policies to promote the use of clean and earth-friendly lamps are also good news for us," he said.

Chen Chaoren, a Canton Fair spokesman, said the Chinese market has shown resilience in the financial downturn because of its large population and increasing domestic consumer spending capabilities.

"The wide participation of foreign enterprises at the fair despite the financial crisis showed the world has confidence and expectations in the Chinese market," he said.

But some foreign exhibitors are still cautious about the new market.

Lavor, an Italian manufacturer of high-pressure cleaning systems for indoor and outdoor applications, is still studying the potential customer base in China.

"China is a different market from the US and Brazil, where we take more than 70 percent of the market share. We won’t set up a sales network in China before a serious study of Chinese customers," said Liang Dong, marketing and sales director for Lavor’ s China region.

"We come to the fair to experience the environment of the market," he said. "We really hope more Chinese will know our brand. That is the first step for us to succeed in China."
                                                                                                             Source: Xinhua