On April 23 and 24, foreign businessmen gathered in the home decoration and building materials exhibition area of the second phase of the 139th Canton Fair.
New technologies, new processes, new designs, and new marketing are empowering the traditional home decoration and building materials industries. Smart homes and green building materials are sought after by foreign businessmen. Some Panamanian merchants are seeking to become agents, and some Venezuelan customers placed orders for several containers on the first day.
Faced with challenges such as adjustments to export tax rebate policies and increased freight costs, the traditional OEM model of simply fighting for low prices in the home building materials industry has become unsustainable, and the industry has entered a critical transformation period of survival of the fittest.
From fighting for price and scale to fighting for value and personalized customization, going global with high quality has become the general trend of industry development.
“New, smart and green” products are favored by foreign businessmen.
Director of the Development Department of Sophia Home Overseas Retail Dealers said that in the past two years, there were more merchants from Southeast Asia and the Middle East at the Canton Fair, and there are also more merchants from Europe and the United States at this Canton Fair.
Because on the basis of environmental protection, quality, and process guarantee, they have incorporated more innovative designs and smart home elements this year, such as fully embedded hidden range hoods, smart lifting electrical components, etc.
On April 23, they signed a contract with American merchants.
A Panamanian businessman has expressed his willingness to join and continued to communicate early the next morning, hoping to become an agent.
The director revealed that Sofia’s whole-house smart business cooperates with Midea and others.
Nowadays, consumers can use the smart voice of their mobile phones to open curtains, doors, windows and electrical appliances. In the next few years, the whole-house intelligence of human-computer interaction will become more prominent.
Sofia’s retail exports achieved double-digit growth last year. First, the home decoration business of self-built houses in Europe and the United States grew; second, the brand’s overseas business grew when dealers opened showrooms; third, the large-volume supply business also grew rapidly.
Overseas markets will become an important sector.
This year we will continue to expand overseas dealers. Sofia has basically completed its layout in Southeast Asia and is deeply exploring local second-tier cities. At the same time, it will also increase its expansion efforts in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the American markets this year.
Not only smart homes, new building materials are also sought after by foreign businessmen at this Canton Fair.
The person in charge of overseas brands of Guangdong Jinyitao Ceramics Group Co., Ltd. said that on the first day of the opening of the second phase of the Canton Fair on the 23rd, a Venezuelan customer placed an order for anti-skid ceramic tiles for several shipping containers.
This kind of tile adds a new process of anti-slip glaze, which is both beautiful and practical in anti-slip. It can be used in swimming pools, gardens, toilets and other scenes.
The cancellation of the 9% export tax rebate for ceramic tiles this year, the rise in the RMB exchange rate, and the increase in freight costs have greatly increased costs.
The person in charge said that they use new products of their own brands to increase premiums and resolve pressure.
In addition to anti-skid tiles, they also promote new materials such as foamed ceramics overseas, which can be used to make wall panels. They are not only environmentally friendly (90% of the materials are solid waste such as glass slag, coal slag, river sludge), but also have fast construction and low noise.
There were Vietnamese customers on site who were very interested.
There are also companies that combine new building materials with photovoltaics, LED displays, etc., which are welcomed by overseas merchants.
The senior director of the international marketing department of Guangxi Fumei New Materials Co., Ltd. said that they use construction solid waste and combine it with modification technology to make a variety of new environmentally friendly building materials, including soft porcelain with flexible shapes and exterior wall building materials with photovoltaics or displays.
Their photovoltaic marble curtains have been exported to Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United States. Photovoltaic panels are embedded in these curtain walls. Customers only need to add inverters and energy storage systems to use the exterior walls to generate photovoltaic power.
In terms of soft porcelain, exports have grown rapidly in recent years because of its strong impact resistance, thinness, and fire resistance.
A Saudi dealer said that compared with traditional stone, this type of new material is low-carbon, environmentally friendly, comes in a variety of styles, and is cost-effective. It has been used in supermarkets and other projects in Saudi Arabia, and will be increasingly accepted by users in the future.
The transformation of the overseas business model is imperative.
Shifting from price to value, from scale to customization, is becoming a new trend in the home building materials industry going global.
At the Canton Fair’s high-quality overseas exchange event for the green building materials and smart home industries, buyers from many countries released their demand for Chinese kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, purifier faucets, etc.
The president of the Colombian Construction Chamber of Commerce welcomed the entry of Chinese green, low-carbon and environmentally friendly building materials into the local market.
The president of the Türkiye-China Business Development and Support Association hopes that China and Turkey will establish a comprehensive industrial ecosystem in the fields of green building materials and smart technology.
The director of the Trade Promotion Department of the China Chamber of Minerals, Minerals and Chemicals Import and Export said that China’s smart sanitary ware industry has accounted for more than 60% of global production capacity, with products covering more than 130 countries and regions around the world; exports will grow strongly in 2025, such as the export value of smart toilets increasing by more than 27% year-on-year; the rapid rise of cross-border e-commerce channels has accelerated the globalization of Chinese brands.
At the same time, the traditional foundry model has come to an end, and transformation is imperative.
On the one hand, policy dividends have disappeared, export tax rebates for ceramic products have been cancelled, and the growth model that relies solely on price competition has hit its ceiling.
On the other hand, compliance requirements such as international standards, product certification, data security, and green and low-carbon are becoming increasingly stringent.
Therefore, China’s smart sanitary ware industry has entered a transformation period of survival of the fittest. Leading companies are impacting global high-end brands, and tailing companies are facing the risk of being eliminated.
Enterprises need to overcome multiple challenges such as trade barriers, industry involution, localized operations, and short-term cost pressures.
There are examples of corporate transformation on site.
The founder of Tao Lianshe used to be a ceramic tile OEM, but seven or eight years ago he transitioned into self-media and e-commerce.
He is optimistic about new building materials such as soft porcelain, and actively promotes them on domestic and overseas social media. He also seizes users from professional channels such as construction and home decoration designers, and empowers them with new designs and new channels. Last year, his new building materials business exceeded 200 million yuan, about 60% of which was exported.
Since they are producing new building materials with their own brand of personalized designs, they have successfully reflected the rising costs in product prices this year.
Relevant sources from the International Department of Hongyu Group revealed that they are also testing new materials and other businesses with higher added value and more room for growth.
Leading companies are deepening their global presence and improving their level of intelligent manufacturing.
The vice president of Sophia Home Furnishing Group revealed that their seven production bases in China have the ability to receive overseas orders, and the goal is to make cross-border customization as local delivery.
Marco Polo related sources revealed that they relied on the digital micro-relief 3.0 technology platform, intelligent light management system and multiple high-end glaze processes in smart manufacturing, and carried out digital and automated upgrades. A single production line only requires a small number of personnel to be on duty, and the efficiency has been greatly improved.
