The pavilion of the Czech Republic in the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai [Photo/VCG]

France, the Czech Republic, Cambodia and 15 other countries attended the second China International Import Expo (CIIE), which ran in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, as special guest countries.

According to the statistics of Shanghai customs, in the first 10 months of this year, the value of Shanghai's imports from the 18 guest countries totaled 240.28 billion yuan ($34 billion), up 3.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

Consumer goods account for the largest proportion in the list of imported goods from the guest countries. In the first 10 months, Shanghai imported 79.87 billion yuan of consumer goods from them, an increase of 26.6 percent in which cosmetics, clothing and bags played a significant role.

As an important platform to undertake the spillover effect of the CIIE, Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub has a unique advantage in promoting the import of consumer goods.

On the eve of the opening of the second CIIE, Shanghai customs established the first bonded exhibition and sales venue relying on the Greenland platform, introducing over 2,500 kinds of overseas commodities such as luxury goods, diamond and jewelry, digital home appliances, daily necessities, wine, household goods and handicrafts.

Due to the reduction of intermediate links and operating costs, many commodities in the exhibition and sales venue were "the same quality with overseas" while achieving "the same price with overseas".

According to Xie Yan, vice-chairman of the China Czech Slovak Promotional Center, at the end of last year, the Czech Republic took part in the first CIIE. In the first half of this year, the center had signed more than 1 million euros ($1.1 million) worth of orders, more than the whole of last year.

As one of the guest countries of the second CIIE, the Czech Republic not only exhibited its traditional consumer goods such as crystal, beer and honey cake at the expo, but also put them on sale shelves through the Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub.