Chinese buyers placed massive orders for a wide variety of foreign goods during the first two days of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), being held Nov. 5-10, in Shanghai.

The first batch of orders from China's State-owned enterprises came from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). Ten companies affiliated to CASC signed 16 deals worth about 5 billion yuan (US$ 721.28 million) with 13 companies from 11 countries and regions on Tuesday. 

The contracts were not limited to aerospace projects, but also involved leasing contracts worth 2.6 billion yuan with Russian air company Sky Gate Airlines and two U.S. cargo airlines, as the CASC seeks to expand its business scope to the international air freight sector and seize opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative. 

CASC also planned to sign 24 other deals worth a total of 6 billion yuan with companies from Germany, the United States, the Czech Republic, Japan, Switzerland, etc. before Saturday. 

In the healthcare sector, the da Vinci Surgical System attracted much attention. Within one day, 21 Chinese public hospitals showed their intention to purchase the state-of-the-art surgery robot, with the value of all potential orders surpassing US$60 million. 

Chinese private enterprises also announced enormous purchase plans.

On the opening day, the Chinese online retail giant JD.com announced it would sign purchase contracts worth nearly 100 billion yuan during the event.

On the following day, its major rival, Alibaba Group, announced a plan to purchase US$200 billion-worth of foreign goods from 120 countries and regions spread over the next five years. 

Other Chinese e-commerce platforms also revealed their own huge purchase plans. The cross-border online retailer Kaola.com announced a plan to place orders worth 20 billion yuan with about 110 foreign firms, while Ymatou.com intends to purchase goods worth some 100 million yuan. 

The Chinese buyers' enthusiasm stunned foreign participants at the expo, elevating their interest in entering the enormous Chinese market.

"There are 80 Polish exhibitors at the expo this year. The work is too exhausting. We need to draw lessons from this and bring more people to the expo next year. The number of Polish exhibitors has to surpass 100 next year," said Tomasz Pisula, president of the management board of Polish Investment and Trade Agency.

Brazilian food company JBS has placed the largest beef order ever between China and Brazil, worth US$1.5 billion, with Alibaba Group. "We will surely come back next year," said the chief executive officer in charge of the JBS beef business.

More than 100 exhibitors from Russia are attending the expo. Andrey Slepnev, general director of the Russian Export Center, inaugurated the center's Shanghai office on the sidelines of the CIIE on Tuesday. "This will inject great power into Russia's exports to China," he said.

The CIIE is the world's first import-themed national-level exhibition.

More than 3,000 companies from over 130 countries and regions are participating in the event, bringing with them more than 5,000 new products and technologies.