Guangzhou Lighting Fair Highlights LED Products

In line with the worldwide green movement, the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition 2008 featured a special LED (light emitting diode) lighting section which attracted crowds of visitors during the six-day exhibition period of June 8-11.

Touted as the largest trade fair for lighting products and services in Asia, the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition has become a popular procurement platform for architects, construction companies, and lighting-product retailers/wholesales from all over the world. The exhibition encompasses a complete array of products, including professional/outdoor lighting products, domestic lighting products, neon lights, stage lights, bulbs, and lighting accessories/parts.

This year the fair occupied 10 exhibition halls with a total of 106,000 square meters of display space, brought in over 1,539 exhibitors (up from1,200 in 2007) from 21 countries, and attracted some 48,100 visitors (up 7%) from 96 countries. The number of overseas visitors grew 3% to 12,000. The total exhibition space hit 106,000 square meters, filling 10 exhibition halls.

This year's event coincided with soaring demand for lighting products in the Chinese market, partly due to construction projects associated with the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and Guangzhou Asian Games, in addition to the accelerated urbanization of Chinese society. The World Bank estimates that by 2015, half of the world's building and construction projects will be happening in China.

Over 50 Taiwanese enterprises took part in the fair, making up the fourth largest exhibitor group after China, Hong Kong, and Korea. The island's delegation included a number of major Taiwanese brands, such as Rise Lighting, Everlight Electronics, and Foxconn, which installed impressive booths that attracted the attention of visitors.

The Taiwanese participants did their best to use the fair as a stepping stone to China's domestic market, which they want to develop party because of the difficulties they face in overseas markets--the revaluation of the renminbi (RMB), the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, and non-tariff barriers in the U.S. and European markets, among others. In addition, they were attracted by China's growing demand, created by improving living standards there and the effects of the Beijing Olympics.

Following are brief introductions to some of the major exhibitors:

Rise Lighting

Rise Lighting took part in the fair mainly to tap China's domestic market. The firm's president, Abi Hong, said that his company's strategy is to tap the market via engineering projects, a major reason why it chose the brand image pavilion to showcase its products. He noted that what Rise offers is lighting solutions that enable designers to learn whether lighting effects meet their needs instead of just selling products.

This strategy appears to have paid off, as the company has received high-end orders for lighting-design consulting services. With factories in Zhejiang Province and an office in Shanghai, plus a well-established reputation in the European market, Hong is confident that his company will successfully tap the high-end sector of the Chinese market-and especially in the commercial-lighting market, thanks to its technological strength.

Core Lighting

A subsidiary of L&C Lighting Technology, Core Lighting has been striving to apply the parent company's cutting-edge technology in developing products for the Chinese market. The company was the only exhibitor at the fair displaying smart lighting products, featuring energy conservation and having a dimming function which can save power consumption by 75%.

The products are currently exported mainly to Europe, but Core Lighting is now promoting its products in the domestic market through regional agencies which can offer lighting design services to clients free of charge. The company boasts a complete product lineup, including lighting products for music halls. The products are claimed to feature innovative design, appearance, and even inner structure. They are developed in Taiwan and manufactured in China.

Zhongshan Jia Yi Xing Light Co.

The Zhongshan Jia Yi Xing Light Co. has been in business for 20 years and now ships 80% of its output to overseas markets. Lamp cups, which are the company's mainstream products, offer the advantages of a high reflection ratio and accurate angle of light. Jhong Jia Yi Sing also turns out lighting accessories, but on a smaller scale. The company's lamp cups have passed SGS certification and meet RoHS (the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive) requirements. Zhongshan Jia Yi Xing can also develop product molds according to clients' designs.

The firm's factory is located in Sanjiao town of Zhongshan city, Guangdong province and employs more than 100 workers. Due to the revaluation of the RMB and the higher labor costs resulting from the implementation of the new Labor Contract Law, the company was forced to raise the prices of its products by 15% this year. Most of its products are now exported, mainly to the U.S., Europe, and Russia; in recent years, though, Zhongshan Jia Yi Xing has been striving to expand domestic sales and now has the home sales ratio up to 20% of total output.