A view of the Lujiazui area in Shanghai Photo: VCG

With just 100 days remaining until the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) kicks off on November 5 in Shanghai, preparations have entered a critical phase.

Multinational industry leaders are unveiling ambitious plans that include expanded exhibition spaces, global product debuts, and deeper integration into local supply chains. Their moves signal strong and sustained confidence in China's vast consumer market and a firm embrace of the country's high-level opening-up policies, a Chinese expert said. 

A long-time "old friend" of the CIIE, Henkel is further scaling up its participation this year. The German multinational will bring both of its business divisions - adhesive technologies and consumer brands - to a larger exhibition space, the company told the Global Times on Sunday. 

It will showcase application scenarios including artificial intelligence (AI), new-energy vehicles, data centers, and consumer electronics, as well as low-carbon materials, green manufacturing, and packaging recycling.

"As China accelerates the development of new quality productive forces, the CIIE has become a key venue for observing the convergence of AI, smart manufacturing, and advanced materials - offering broader opportunities for companies to present cutting-edge technologies and drive local applications," Anna An, president of Henkel Greater China, told the Global Times.

TCP Group also said that it will showcase a diverse range of Red Bull beverage offerings at the coming event.

TCP Group said it has ridden the "CIIE Express" to achieve multiple transformations since its first participation in 2019: from brand exhibition to industrial implementation, from exhibits to marketable goods, and from an expo exhibitor to an investor, the company told the Global Times on Sunday. 

As a Thailand-rooted multinational enterprise with more than 30 years of cultivation in China, TCP Group will continue to take the CIIE as a bridge to keep pace with local consumption trends, advance product innovation and industrial chain coordination, and further integrate into the Chinese market, Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TCP Group, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Such remarks come as foreign-invested companies are showing strong confidence in the Chinese market. 

Almost 4,800 foreign-funded enterprises made additional investments in China in the first half of 2026, reflecting their continued confidence in the Chinese market, Vice Minister of Commerce Yan Dong said on Thursday.

The number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in China rose 5.3 percent year-on-year during this period, while foreign direct investment (FDI) in actual use totaled 402.14 billion yuan ($59.22 billion), Yan told a press conference.

Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory stood out as a major growth engine in the American electric vehicle giant's second-quarter earnings, released on Thursday, as it posted the highest monthly vehicle deliveries of the year, according to a statement the company sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

The US carmaker reported total revenue of $28.2 billion for the second quarter of 2026, up 26 percent year-on-year, on the back of rising vehicle deliveries and growth in other businesses. 

"The confidence of foreign-invested companies comes amid the growing vitality and expanding scale of China's consumer market, which are attracting foreign companies to deepen their strategies in China," Bian Yongzu, a financial expert and executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times.

Bian added that the country's mega-scale market, its well-established and highly efficient industrial and supply chain systems, and its continuously improving innovation environment provide favorable conditions and fertile ground for multinational corporations' investments in China, laying a solid foundation for stabilizing foreign capital.

An from Henkel also said that Henkel remains confident in the growth potential and positive long-term trajectory of the Chinese market, and continues to increase its investments and deepen its local presence in the country.

Yoovidhya from TCP Group said that going forward, "we will further increase investment in China, work hand-in-hand with upstream and downstream partners across the industrial chain, and unlock broader prospects through win-win collaboration."