嘉賓：Manzur (ACI, Bangladesh), Henri (Kanegrade, Finland), Vania (Indonesia)
Q1: What are the qualifications for your suppliers in China? For example QC, factory qualification, environmental protection and R&D.
貴公司在中國的供應商具備哪些資質？如QC，工廠資質，環保和研發。
Henri: Well, first of all, I want to thank you for invitation. It’s my privilege to be here. We work in different fields and different fields need different certificates, so it’s no use to list them all. But for example you talked about environmental protection, I can take that one (as an example). Usually companies, customers, we only care about profits, right? That’s understandable, but I think we should be more concerned about environmental protection. Every certificate, for example, ISO, REACH, they have the environmental part. How do European Union puts it? What’s the purpose of REACH? I can make one quote. It says, 「REACH aims to improve the protection of human health and environment.」 That’s the whole purpose of REACH. So everybody can ask themselves, 「Is health important? Is our environment important?」 If we don’t have health, we have nothing. Also if we want to do business in the future, in this beautiful planet earth, I think it (the environment) is very important.
Henri：首先，我要感謝主持人的邀請，我很榮幸來到這裡。我們在不同的領域工作，不同的領域需要不同的證書，所以沒有必要羅列所有。但是你說到環境保護，我可以舉個例子。通常企業只關心利潤，這是可以理解的，但我認為我們應該更關心環境保護。每個證書，例如ISO、REACH，都有環境部分。歐盟是怎麼說的？REACH的目的是什麼？我可以引用一句：「REACH旨在改善對人類健康和環境的保護。」這就是REACH的目的。所以每個人都可以問自己，「健康重要嗎？」「我們的環境重要嗎？」如果我們沒有健康，我們就一無所有。此外，如果我們想在未來做生意，在這個美麗的地球上，我認為環境是非常重要的。
Vania: Thank you Jane. First of all, it’s a different market from him. Indonesia, like Mr. Fahim has said, is a Muslim country. So for our Chinese suppliers, we require Halal, which I think would be the most important certification for the Indonesian market. And some Indonesian manufacturers also export to the overseas market, like the USA, some Chinese market, also others, so I would say Kosher would be another beneficial certification that Chinese manufacturers would like to have. And second, ISO, like food safety ISO, environmental safety ISO, will be preferable as well. I think that’s all qualifications for our Indonesia market.
Vania：謝謝主持人。首先，印尼市場和歐洲市場不同。正如論壇中Fahim先生所說，印尼是一個穆斯林國家，所以對於我們的中國供應商，我們要求Halal，這是印尼市場最重要的資質。一些印尼生產商也出口到海外市場，所以我認為Kosher是另一個需要的資質。再次就是ISO資質。
Manzur: I am from Bangladesh. You know, from that part of the world, the price is a very important issue. But as far as food is concerned, definitely quality counts because it’s with the life, human life. So quality, price, and definitely another thing is delivery time, because you know food is an item whose shelf live is very important. So from the production to delivery, [the time] is very important. And then also for the economy, as far as the price and the value is concerned, the price is expected to be stable. The whole supply chain, the management should be done in such a way that we can maintain a price with stability. My other friends have covered the qualifications, so I will not emphasize that anymore.
Manzur：二位同事已提及的資質，我就不再贅述了。我來自孟加拉國，價格在我們那個地區很重要。但就食物而言，質量也很重要，因為它關乎生命。所以質量、價格、還有交貨時間都很重要，因為食品都有保質期。所以從生產到交貨，時間是非常重要的。然後就價格值而言，我們希望價格是穩定的。整個供應鏈的管理，應該這樣讓產品可以保持在一個穩定的價格。
Q2: Compared to the global market, what would be the advantage and disadvantages of Chinese suppliers?
與全球市場相比，中國供應商的優勢和劣勢是什麼?
Manzur: We have experience actually. Our company deals with global companies, European, North American, Japanese...so compared to other countries, China is very efficient. The Chinese companies in business always focus on customer requirements and they are constantly use dialog with us. And also they are proactive in terms of quality, price, and customer requirements. So I should say, compared to other countries, Chinese companies are coming up very fast and that is why we always prefer to source things from China.
Manzur：這個問題我們有發言權。我公司主要經營國際貿易，與歐洲，北美，日本等國都有接觸，和其他國家相比，中國供應商非常高效。中國企業在經營中始終關注客戶的需求，不斷地與我們進行商討、對話。而且他們在質量、價格和客戶需求方面都是積極主動的。所以我應該說，與其他國家相比，中國公司發展得很快，這就是為什麼我們總是喜歡從中國採購。
Henri: Well of course there are both disadvantages and advantages. Firstly disadvantages. We buy a lot from European suppliers, and the reason is the delivery time, of course. If you buy from European suppliers, the good will be in our customers』 warehouse within a week or so. From China, it might be forty days, fifty days, and if it’s so long, there is a lot of our funds. But in China there is also advantages. Some products, for example, some vitamin C, xanthan gum, China produces 80% of the whole world capacity, so in that case, China is a very good choice.
Henri：中國供應商當然有優點也有缺點。首先說缺點，交貨期。如果你從歐洲供應商進貨，貨物在一周左右的時間內就能送到我們客戶的倉庫。從中國，可能是四十天，五十天，如果時間這麼長，我們成本也要增加。但中國供應商也有優勢，許多產品（如維生素C），中國佔了世界生產總量的80%，所以從這一方面來看，我們會選擇中國供應商。
Vania: In terms of distance, I think China and Indonesia is much closer, so for our Chinese suppliers, it only takes them fourteen days to ship at most. Another advantage for us is that Indonesia and China have free trade agreement, so that really makes Chinese suppliers to have a very competitive pricing. For the disadvantage, I think, not much can sit there, because there are so many Chinese suppliers already market their products to Indonesia, and they have already known the requirements there, so I think the disadvantage is the fluctuation of the price.
Vania：就距離而言，中國和印尼更近，所以從中國購買產品最多只需要14天就可以到貨。另一個優勢是印尼和中國有自由貿易協定，這使得中國供應商的價格非常有競爭力。對於劣勢，我認為市場趨於飽和，許多中國供應商已經在印尼銷售他們的產品，而且已經熟知客戶需求。另一劣勢是價格波動。
Q3: What’s your expectation of new products and new trend of food industry? 您認為未來食品行業發展趨勢是什麼？
Henri: One of the upcoming trends is healthy aging. Of course no body wants to get old, right? You cannot avoid it (getting old), but how to get old healthily? The last years of life, how can we live happily and healthily, so that’s most likely the huge trend, I think. And also people are more interested about organic food and natural food, berries, things like that, etc.
Henri：健康老齡是未來的趨勢之一。當然沒有人想變老，但你無法避免衰老，但是如何健康地變老呢？在生命的最後幾年，我們如何才能快樂健康地生活？所以我認為，這很可能是一個巨大的趨勢。此外，現代人也越來越關注有機、天然食品。
Vania: Indonesia has a different trend with the European market. I can say for now that it is moving to functional beverages, and we have more bakeries and pastries, whose demand is becoming bigger. And moreover we also have healthy drinks, like yogurt.
Vania：印尼與歐洲市場趨勢不同。從目前來看，印尼食品行業未來趨勢是功能性飲料、烘焙食品，以及酸奶之類的健康飲品。
Manzur: Like my Pakistani colleague, Mr. Fahim, we share the same market trend and requirement. Halal is one thing. Mr. Fahim has almost covered the issues there. Health is an important issue; pure clean food is an issue. These things are coming up, so I think out supply chain partners can help us and share what is happening around the world. And one more thing I would request Chinese companies to invest in R&D. I have seen that companies like DuPont, they invest heavily. You have the volume, so whenever you can come up with new products, definitely you can beat companies like DuPont and others because they charge too high. Countries like Bangladesh, poor countries from South Asia, cannot afford sometimes. So I would request the Chinese companies to invest more in R&D. When more products can be introduced , we can benefit from those things.
Manzur：和我的巴基斯坦同事Fahim先生一樣，孟加拉國有著相同的市場趨勢和需求。清真是一方面，健康食品是另一方面。此外，我希望中國公司加大投資研發。像杜邦這樣的公司投入了大量資金，要加高，而中國供應商產品充足，所以可以在南亞與行業巨頭匹敵。像孟加拉國這樣的南亞國家，有時負擔不起過高的費用。因此，我希望中國企業加大研發投入，能有更多產品銷往南亞，我們也能從中受益。
Q4: How do you learn online purchase? Have you tried or will you? What will be the merits and demerits of online purchase?
您是否在網上交易過化工產品？您對對於化工產品網購有何看法？
Henri: To be honest, we haven’t tried it yet because we work in wholesale. We need to negotiate a lot of details, payment details, delivery details. It is not like you buy something from Taobao where you choose, click, buy. It’s not like that. And I think we still need a lot of human-to-human contact, which is important. Customer relationships are really important, and that’s why we are here. But in the future, we might try some online purchasing for the major products being in the market for a long time. Of course, then we need a trustful good company, like you, Echemi.
Henri：說實話，我們尚未網購過化工產品。原因是，產品批發需要討論細節，支付、運輸等，不像淘寶一樣選好下單即可。交易需要面對面交流，維護客戶關係，這也是這次見面會的意義所在。未來我們可能會選擇網購主流產品，但需要依託值得信任的公司，如Echemi。
Vania: It’s the same here. We haven’t tried it at all. The main point of online purchase, I think, is verification, good certification, supplier certification. If that point is sorted, I think we might have a try.
印尼嘉賓：我們也尚未網購過化工產品。我認為網上交易最重要的是資質，如果供應商資質得到保證，會考慮網上交易。
Manzur: In a digital time, this [online purchase] saves time and it can speed up things. And it’s also important to have human contract and negotiation. A lot of negotiations and discussions cannot be done online, but can still dialogue some business models online, so let’s see. But it is very important because of the promptness, speed, we can save time, so it will definitely have some impact.
Manzur：在數字時代，網上交易節省了時間，但人與人的溝通和商討也很重要。很多溝通不能在網上完成，但我期待網上交易未來的發展。