It's been estimated that more than 6,900 cafes now proudly line up along the streets of East China's Shanghai – and the city is said to have become the world's new coffee capital – an achievement that  businesses from Italy have reportedly helped drive.

Cimbali, the world-renowned coffee machine manufacturer from Italy, has a history going back nearly 110 years. Currently thousands of Cimbali coffee machines are imported into the Chinese market each year, making authentic Italian coffee for Chinese consumers in Shanghai and in many other cities.

At the 6th Italian Design Icons, or IDI, event – recently held in Shanghai – Chinese latte master Liu Qiang used a new-model Cimbali coffee machine to make Italian coffee for visitors. In this way, Cimbali is said to have expressed its confidence in the Chinese market.

In fact, many famous Italian brands that participated in the IDI exhibition are just as drawn to the opportunities in China as Cimbali.

Casappa – one of Italy's largest producers of hydraulic pumps and motors – exhibited its electronic pumps that launched in China this year. Elsewhere, Comau, an industrial automation and robotics company from Italy, displayed its latest muscle-assisted exoskeletons at the show.

According to China's customs statistics, the bilateral trade volume between China and Italy in the first 10 months of this year reached $60.3 billion. Of that, China imported $25.1 billion from Italy – a 42 percent gain on 2019 – before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.