A group of Chinese retailers, importers and e-commerce companies have visited Peru to meet with exporters from the Pacific Alliance countries of Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
Organised by the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism alongside its Shanghai office, the Chinese retailers and traders attended the third Macro Business Round of the Pacific Alliance on 17 and 18 June.
Peruvian minister of foreign trade and tourism, Magali Silva, said there’s potential for US$31m worth of business between China and the Pacific Alliance countries in the coming 12 months.
Represented at the Business Round were three e-commerce companies, three retailers and two traders from China, including Alibaba subsidiary Tmall, Walmart’s online site Yihaodian, fresh produce etailer Yiguo, and speciality greengrocer Pagoda as well as Shanghai retailer City’Super. Carrefour was represented by its Brazil-based international buyer.
Silva said the growing e-commerce industry in China offered strategic opportunities, particularly for Peruvian exporters.
“This is the future trend in China– the youth of the country acquire products via an Application on their smart phones, then their purchases are delivered directly to their homes, so they don’t have to go to the ships or supermarkets,” Silva said, adding that the growing popularity of online shopping saw 10 per cent of China’s total sales take place online in 2014.
Joining the Chinese buyers were 430 export companies for the four member countries as well as 200 buyers from across Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile.
