JOHANNESBURG – This year’s China Homelife and Machinex Trade Fair – the largest exhibition of Chinese producers in South Africa – drew to a close on Thursday, 26 September. The fair, which happened at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, launched on Tuesday and showcased high-quality Chinese products including machinery, textiles, home appliances and building materials as well as new energy, household goods, beauty and consumer electronics.
Through China Homelife, distributors, traders, buyers, importers, general dealers and small business owners can maximise their networking opportunities and engage with nearly 500 leading Chinese suppliers and manufacturers and almost 10,000 innovative, high-quality products. The China Homelife South Africa Trade Fair is an effective platform for qualified, leading Chinese exhibitors seeking to do business in Africa and professional local buyers in Africa seeking to import or do business with China.
Thousands of visitors attended this, the eighth China Homelife South Africa Trade Fair, which focused on machinery. A range of high-end, certified machines were showcased including food processors and generators as well as plastic forming, packaging, water purifying and ribbon weaving machines. As part of the fair were also rock drills, valves, electric vehicle chargers and stainless steel pipes for water delivery. Binu Pillai, Chief Operating Officer of Meorient International Exhibition, organisers of China Homelife South Africa, explained that during COVID-19, many countries couldn’t import products from China. This led to them developing their local supply chain. “We have focused the fair on machinery to enable entrepreneurs to start producing locally,” he said.
Yudong Machinery that produces a variety of engines and generators, including gasoline and silent diesel generators, was one of numerous machinery companies at the fair. Vincent Zhao, co-owner of Yudong Machinery, said: “We have made many sales at this year and last year’s fair. Last year, we found a very effective local distributor to supply our generators and engines throughout South Africa. We want to access partners to distribute our products to the rest of Africa.”Just one of thousands of visitors at the fair was Princess Machete who runs a business called Reakhona Multi-Purpose Coops in Cosmo City, Johannesburg. Her company provides cleaning services and general products including stationery, tissues and cleaning chemicals.
“Load reduction and load shedding really affects my business because it means I can’t access the Internet to source products for my clients,” she said. “I came to the fair not only to get back up energy for my company, but I also want to venture into the business of renewable energy and sell solar panels, generators and portable power stations in South Africa and to other African countries. Portable power stations are so useful as they keep phones and laptops charging and the TV on during power outages.” Machete recently travelled to Zambia and says she had two full days of no electricity and after that, it was common for electricity to come and go. Zambia, and so many other countries on the continent, could really benefit from the array of renewable energy products provided by China.
“The fair has been very informative with regard to the various new energy products that are available,” added Machete. “I have also found out about how to collaborate with China in terms of selling these products across Africa.” Look out for the next China Homelife South Africa coming to you in 2025! For more information on China Homelife South Africa, visit: http://www.chinahomelife.co.za