Commercial Service Market Brief Interviews: Principal Commercial Officers Discuss Opportunities in China's Second Tier Cities

Listen to the Interview with Ireas Cook - Guangzhou

Ireas Cook (bio), the Principal Commercial Officer in Guangzhou, speaks about China’s new policy shift to promote business in the provinces of Hainan Island, Guangdong, Fujian, and Guangxi. She discusses growing import industries within these provinces and the effect China’s clean energy emissions drive will have on the importation of needed equipment upgrades to meet the new environmental standards. 

Listen to the Interview with David Gossack - Shanghai

David Gossack (bio), the Principal Commercial Officer in Shanghai, discusses the opportunities in the second tier cities around Shanghai in Jiangsu, Anhui, and Zhejiang provinces, a region with a population of 200 million people. This region has the highest disposable income in China and has the largest American Chamber of Commerce in Asia. Furthermore, he advises listeners on growing opportunities for U.S. exporters in education, franchising and health care sectors. Mr. Gossack discusses how the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service can assist individual companies.

Listen to the Interview with Yasue Pai - Shenyang

Yasue Pai (bio), the Principal Commercial Officer in Shenyang, speaks about the growing opportunities in cities near Shenyang such as Dalian and Harbin. Dalian has benefited from large investments from companies such as Intel and its proximity to Japan as a port city. She points out that Shenyang and the surrounding cities are benefiting from the an initiative to build infrastructure connecting it to the surrounding cities. Yasue Pai notes that because larger multinationals are beginning to enter into these cities, it should becomes easier for small and medium sized enterprises to piggyback on these MNC's and serve the peripheral markets that these companies create.

Listen to the Interview with Eric Wolfe - Chengdu

Eric Wolff (bio), the Principal Commercial Officer in Chengdu, talks about possible strategies medium and small companies can utilize in order to break into the smaller, untapped markets of southwest China. Mr. Wolfe focuses on the fact that these cities are substantially more developed than most people perceive them to be and are ready for foreign industry to tap their potential. He then explains how the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service assists an individual company and what resources the Commercial Service provides.