On the big stage of global trade, Chinese hardware products are showing strong competitiveness.
Recently, the China Hardware Brands Overseas Conference and the Global Production and Supply Resources Accurate Matchmaking Conference were held grandly. Many people in the industry gathered together to make suggestions for the development of Chinese hardware brands.
Zhang Dongli, chairman of the China Hardware Products Association, pointed out that after decades of development, China has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of hardware products, with annual exports exceeding US$160 billion.
Currently, we are moving from the ‘Product Export 1.0 Era’ to the ‘Brand Overseas 2.0 Era’. We need to further enhance the international competitiveness of Chinese hardware brands through technological innovation, brand building and sustainable development.
Nie Linhai, former deputy director of the Department of E-Commerce and Information Technology of the Ministry of Commerce, put forward valuable suggestions.
He believes that brand companies must “go global as a team” and rely on the power of industrial clusters to cooperate; they must be “innovation-driven” to achieve comprehensive improvement from product innovation to business model innovation; they must also be “digitally empowered” and use new technologies to optimize the layout of the global supply chain.
Hong Yong, an expert from the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, analyzed the current situation of China’s hardware exports.
China’s hardware exports have grown steadily, reaching US$163.63 billion in 2024. Tool hardware has become the fastest growing field, and international brand competitiveness has initially taken shape.
However, we also face some challenges, such as weak brand power, insufficient R&D investment (less than 2%), and international green and technical barriers (such as EU CE certification).
To promote China’s transformation from a ‘manufacturing power’ to a ‘brand power’, it is necessary to strengthen brand building, increase investment in research and development, and improve the standard certification system.
Zhao Haoxing, Dean of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Research Institute of Zhejiang Gongshang University, proposed the concept of ‘new overseas’.
He emphasized that companies should abandon the “make quick money” mentality, practice the altruism of “being popular and teaching people how to fish”, and focus on ESG and the “heart-to-heart” model.
2025-2030 is the golden period for Africa to go overseas. He innovatively proposed six major models such as industrial bases, entrepreneurial parks, and local marketing, and built a five-dimensional system of ‘height-depth-temperature-speed-accuracy’.
Many guests also emphasized the importance of compliance when going overseas.
Compliance is required before going overseas. The focus is to complete product certification and brand registration in the target market in advance. It is recommended to use local professional institutions to achieve ‘easy compliance’.
The conference also released the “Declaration of Action for Chinese Hardware Brands to Go Abroad with High Quality” and held the launching ceremony of the “China Hardware Brands Going Abroad to Africa Alliance”.
The alliance will integrate full-chain resources such as R&D, manufacturing, logistics, after-sales, finance, and law, jointly build digital overseas warehousing, cloud display centers, and intelligent after-sales service systems, promote the collaborative expansion of the industrial chain overseas, and provide all-round support for Chinese hardware companies to explore the African market.
The matchmaking meeting adopted a ‘1-to-many’ intelligent matching mechanism, attracting the participation of more than 150 international buyers from more than 20 countries and regions, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Nigeria, and South Africa, and the amount of intended cooperation reached on site exceeded 80 million US dollars.
This fully demonstrates the huge potential of Chinese hardware brands in the international market. I believe that with the joint efforts of all parties, Chinese hardware brands will shine more dazzlingly in the global market.
