Danish companies eye lucrative opportunities at CIIE in Shanghai

COPENHAGEN, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Danish companies are present in record numbers at the ongoing 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, lured by the lucrative opportunities offered by the Chinese market.

Danish exports to China have significantly increased in recent years, and according to Rasmus Prehn, Denmark's minister for food, agriculture and fisheries, the CIIE helps provide a shop window for more Danish exports to China.

Prehn said from Copenhagen during his live stream participation at the opening ceremony of the Danish national pavilion at the CIIE on Nov. 6 that the past years have witnessed "a great match between the Chinese customer demands and the Danish high-quality food products."

According to Statistics Denmark, China was the fifth-largest export market for Danish goods between September 2020 and August 2021. Pork has been Denmark's major export product, with China listed as the country's fourth-largest buyer.

"We've been present in China for many years," Jais Valeur, chief executive officer (CEO) of meat processing company Danish Crown, Europe's largest pork producer, told Xinhua from Copenhagen.

"It's a very big market for us ... it's a market that has very high requirements and high standards," said Valeur, adding that as sustainability is rising up the consumer agenda, this year at CIIE the company also put special emphasis on sustainable products.

FOSS, a global provider of high-tech analytical solutions used mainly in the agricultural and food industries, also considers its participation in the CIIE an ideal opportunity to expand its exports and invest in future trends.

By participating in the CIIE, CEO Kim Vejlby Hansen told Xinhua that FOSS wants to get "a better understanding of" the customers' future needs and what can its "role and participation be for the future."

Denmark's Kelsen Group, makers of Kjeldsens Butter Cookies (known as Danish Blue Can Cookies in China), has long been a major exporter to China. The company considers its participation in the CIIE a market strengthening exercise.

"We are proud to be the leading Danish butter cookie producer in China. We have been doing business in China for many years and we see the exhibition as an opportunity to build even stronger relations with our partners in China," Mads Waagepetersen, the group's chief financial officer (CFO), told Xinhua.

Denmark's nearly 500-square-meter pavilion at the CIIE is "the largest the country has ever constructed in China," Soren Falck, head of the Danish delegation to the CIIE, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

This is further evidence of the buoyancy of China's economy and of the enthusiasm of more and more Danish companies attracted by the prospect of doing business in China.