After a disruption of four years, China Int’l Sewing Machinery and Accessories Show 2023 (CISMA2023) will return to Shanghai New Int’l Expo Center (SNIEC), presenting a grander international event in the sewing machinery sector.

From January 8, China Customs has dropped testing of all the inbound travelers. Joint Prevention and Control Office of the State Council has also issued directives to allow Chinese tourists to travel abroad in an orderly manner, which is a major boon in three years for sewing machinery enterprises that crave going abroad, overseas users that long for exploring Chinese market, and international visitors that fail to attend CISMA due to the pandemic.

No Nucleic Acid Test upon Entry

In the end of 2022, China has further improved its pandemic control measures, and successively released 10 Articles on Further Improving Covid-19 Pandemic Control Measures (10 New Articles), Overall Plan of Controlling Covid-19 with Measures against Class B Infectious Disease, which streamline requirements for visitors in scenarios like trade fair. The revamp of quarantine requirements for inbound and outbound travelers is expected to attract more overseas users and professional visitors.

In the 10 New Articles, the centralized and stay-at-home quarantine for inbound travelers has been reduced from ‘14+7’ to ‘10+3’, then ‘7+3’, and finally to ‘5+3’; no meltdown mechanism for inbound flights; 2 negative nucleic acid tests in 48 hours before boarding is reduced to 1.

From January 8, quarantine requirements for exiting and entering China have been adjusted based on the latest measures: no inclusive test or centralized quarantine upon entry; travelers with negative test results in 48 hours before departure don’t have to apply to Chinese embassies for health code after registering health status declaration at the Customs, travelers with positive results shall wait till their test results turn negative; no restrictions on international flights like each airline can only operate one route to a single country and one flight at most per week, no limit on passenger load factor; to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals for business activities, and streamline visa approval processes; resume exit and entry at water and land border ports gradually. After the Spring Festival, many inbound travelers have proven to main stream media how convenient the entry becomes now.

CISMA2023 back to the forefront of global sewing machinery exhibition

According to the organizer, CISMA2023 will occupy 12 halls of Shanghai New Int’l Expo Center, i.e. hall W1-W5, E1-E7, covering an exhibition space of 138,000 sqm, making it one of the largest sewing equipment show in the world.

Over the past, CISMA2019, held before the pandemic, has attracted 1,429 exhibitors from 18 countries and regions, of which 308 are foreign enterprises, accounting for 21.6%. It has also attracted 86,975 man-times of professional visitors from 100 countries and regions, of which 4,732 are overseas visitors. Such visitors come from sectors like apparel, textiles, automobile interior, furniture, shoe-making, camping, protective gear, tourism, etc.

Taking place in Ningbo last year, CISMA2021 has recruited 378 exhibitors, and its holding has consolidated faith in the market. Prior to the event, overseas distributors from countries like America, Brazil, Egypt, India, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka, Turkiye, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, etc. have expressed their intention to attend CISMA2021, but failed to do so due to the pandemic. Even so, lots of exhibitors and users chose to depart early to make sure they will not miss the show after going through the ‘14+7’ quarantine. Based on CISMA2021 show report, 58,498 professional visitors from 25 countries and regions have visited the event, of which 144 are foreign ones from 24 countries and regions.

The organizer has found out that CISMA still has a strong attraction to exhibitors at home and abroad. Ever since CISMA2023 was launched, exhibitors have submitted applications enthusiastically. Overseas exhibitors who meant but failed to attend CISMA2021 will bring their latest technological developments in the past three years to the show. Recently, the organizer has received many inquiry calls and emails from overseas or comments, all expressing their eagerness to visit.

Overseas visitors long for reunion

Exhibitors and visitors have high expectations for CISMA2023, and look forward to the reunion with friends from all over the world. Overseas agents and distributors for major Chinese brands have also placed great expectations on CISMA.

 ‘CISMA2023 will hopefully be the hottest event.’

 ‘Distributors from abroad will definitely attend the event, and the number of visitors will likely be unparalleled.’

 ‘Foreign customers have shown strong desire to attend the event.’

Li Xiaofeng, executive vice president of SGG, said that the company’s distributors from abroad have paid close attention to China’s pandemic control measures, reacted positively to its reopening to the world, and conveyed their intentions to explore China’s huge market. So far, three distributors have already decided to visit China and conduct market researches this month. Meanwhile, people have great anticipations for CISMA2023, and it will probably be the hottest event as long as the pandemic control measures don’t subject to major reversal. It’s been three years, and the company’s distributors will definitely present at the event, including but not limited to those invited.

According to Qiu Yangyou, vice president of JACK, currently lots of overseas distributors intend to visit China due to the fact that they haven’t seen the development of sewing equipment in China for three years. China is the backbone of global sewing equipment market, and sewing equipment made in China is the bellwether of such equipment around the world. Over the past few years, overseas trade fairs haven’t achieved desired results without exhibitors and end-users from China. As the current situation in China is no longer as bad as depicted by foreign media previously, overseas distributors will surely visit CISMA2023 if they don’t have trouble in handling airline ticket and visa, then the number of visitors will also exceed that in the past events. Moreover, JACK is meant to extend their overseas distributors’ stay in China, and will probably convene a distributor congress to better align their beliefs.

Chen Xinhua, chairman of Changzhou XT, said that as China reopens foreign customers begin to contact the company, and all show strong interests in visiting CISMA2023. XT will invite all of its distributors to attend the event held in September.

In the meantime, the editor, when interviewing the major sewing equipment brands, found out that things haven’t completely returned to the pre-pandemic level due to setbacks in having access to visa. Zhu Miaohai, chairman assistant and sales VP of Zhejiang ZOJE, said that overseas distributors, agents and users expect to visit CISMA on the whole though they’re still watching how the situation develops for now.

A grander CISMA2023 is around the corner

Sources from China Sewing Machinery Association (CSMA) analyzed that the sector will likely rebuild its production capacities and begin restocking, and domestic sales is expected to rebound slightly phase by phase in the second half of 2023 as the pandemic poses less threat to travelling, consumption and production activities, consumers and investors’ faith is restored over time in the first half. The downward pressures on domestic and foreign demands for sewing equipment made in China are expected to ease, which will create a helpful environment for the event. Ever since the stringent lockdown measures were dropped, it’s self-evident that the traffic has become busier, people return to the streets, hospitality and recreation venues come back to life, and business activities have substantially resumed. Presumably, people will feel more relaxed with the pandemic left behind, and release huge demands for commodities depressed during the pandemic. Economic sectors like apparel and footwear-making, interior decoration, construction materials, automobile, tourism, etc. will probably see ‘revenge growth’, which may create a new round of opportunities for the sewing equipment sector and the trade fair. Enterprises must prepare themselves for it.

Under such circumstances, CISMA2023 will definitely become a splendid event to showcase the latest achievements throughout the industrial chain of sewing equipment, and extensively demonstrate the strength of China’s sewing machinery industry and its faith in high-quality development.