A B-to-B trade show in Beijing
The China Fish 2024 fishing trade show has just been held in Beijing from February 21 to 23, 2024. It's a show that's been around for some thirty years, with a hiatus during the covid years. In 2021, there was a show, but as no foreign visas were distributed, it was a ghost show... There was an attempt at a "remote visit", where a local correspondent would walk around the show with a videoconferencing laptop, scanning the stands, then asking any questions the exhibitors might have.
Having tried it for an hour, I quickly stopped with a feeling of seasickness (the caller was walking with the phone!) and great difficulty communicating, as the caller wasn't necessarily looking where he should, didn't know the technical fishing terms to translate from English into Chinese, and vice-versa...
New for 2024, for the first time 4 European countries, including France, no longer needed visas for visits of less than 15 days. For all those who queued for dozens of hours at the Chinese embassy in Paris, this was a great gift, and one we took advantage of!
China, the fishing factory of the world
China is the world's factory for many products, but particularly for fishing! Their first customers are the Japanese, (even if they don't like each other very much...) who have most of their products manufactured there, under drastic quality control, but manage development, marketing and, for quality brands, finishing.
Most of the major European brands also do business there, based on existing products that they have customized, especially for hard lures. As for soft lures, the big French brands (Fiiish, Caperlan, Illex, etc.) develop their prototypes with Bricoleurre products, test them with their pro-staffs, then have them produced in China for obvious economic reasons.
For others, the multiplicity of intermediaries (Chinese manufacturer + Japanese importer/developer + European importer + distributor + retail store) impacts prices, as each takes a margin to live on. But the origin is the same!
The main production areas are around Ningbo and wehai, where factories are located side by side...
1080 exhibitors!
Although this is a B-to-B show, i.e. reserved for professionals, it's tempting to draw a comparison with our French shows.
The last Clermont Ferrand fishing show brought together 80 exhibitors, 22 of them fishing (the others being nautical, electronics, associations, etc.).
This is a change of scale! 1080 exhibitors 100% fishing ! Lunar !
Compared with previous editions, there were fewer small exhibitors and more large stands. And there was a definite increase in professionalism, with beautiful stands, a plethora of videos, and some very hard-hitting salespeople!
Products represented
All products are represented by numerous competing manufacturers, with so much choice that it's hard to find your way around...
More than 30 reel manufacturers, each offering ranges from 30 to 150 models! A dinguery. On the other hand, they are often price-oriented, and when you see reels for less than ?1.50! You might have doubts about the quality of the products...
An avalanche of rods of all models, sizes and finishes! But also their subcontractors for parts... It takes almost a day to go round all the rod stands.
Hundreds of stands selling lures, braids and threads, accessories and fishing clothes.
Our visitors
An interesting thing to know is who visits this type of show? Naturally global in origin, with over 43 countries represented, I was interested in the origins of the visitors to get an idea of the importance of fishing in different countries.
The ranking is quite surprising!
- Russia with 123 buyers
- USA with 74 buyers
- United Kingdom with 59 buyers
- Korea with 56 buyers
- South Africa with 49 buyers
- Australia with 48 buyers
- Italy with 46 buyers
- Taiwan with 43 buyers
...
France is far behind with 18 visitors, in 20th place!
A little anecdote, I was lucky enough to dine with my hook manufacturer, who had also invited his Russian and Ukrainian customers to his table! A little worried for a moment about how the evening would go, but quickly reassured by the Russian who declared he was against the war, like many Russians who can't express it.
They did, however, have a bit of a beer fight! Even with a bit of practice, it's impossible to keep up with them on that score! Laughs...
Of course, Bricoleurre was present on all 3 days of the show, in order to source a number of new products and present them to French anglers first-hand. After carefully testing them!
As the only intermediary between manufacturers and users, Bricoleurre is able to offer unbeatable value for money.
