Sales of China-made Olympic products surge ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

As anticipation builds up for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the Olympic economy is experiencing a significant upswing in China, with soaring exports and domestic sales of sports equipment and Olympic-themed products.

Various products featuring the Paris 2024 Olympic mascot Phryge have been selling well in recent days.

According to statistics from the online shopping platform of T-Mall, since the establishment of the Chinese delegation for the Paris Olympics on July 13, daily visits to the official Olympic Games store on the platform have increased by over 20 percent month on month. Plush toys and commemorative coins of the mascot Phryge have been restocked 14 times.

"We first put these products on sale at the Beijing Olympic Museum on May 28, 2024. In the beginning, our daily sales were around 2,000 yuan (about 275 U.S. dollars). Currently, as the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approaches, our daily sales have increased to about 11,000 yuan (1,513 U.S. dollars)," said Li Wenxi, a salesman of a shop at the Beijing Olympic Museum.

Double Fish Sports Group, a Chinese sporting goods manufacturer based in Guangzhou, the capital of south China's Guangdong Province, has been designated as an exclusive supplier of table tennis balls for the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Since the beginning of this year, 22 batches totaling approximately 650,000 table tennis balls for the Paris Olympics have been produced and exported to 15 countries and regions worldwide, with a total value of about 2.1 million yuan (288,872 U.S. dollars).

The booming Olympic economy has also driven many Olympic-themed product manufacturers in China to expand production capacity.

A company based in Ningbo City, east China's Zhejiang Province, primarily produces trophies and medals for export to Europe. Since last year, orders have increased substantially, with the export value in the first half of this year rising by 138 percent year on year.

"If we don't increase our production capacity, we will not be able to finish all the orders until March next year. Therefore, to fulfill these orders by the end of this year, we have put into operation two new production lines. This year's output value is expected to increase by 25 to 30 percent," said Xie Xiangyu, manager of Ningbo Fasibo Sports Goods Co., Ltd.

"From January to June this year, Ningbo exported sporting goods and equipment worth 3.774 billion yuan (519 million U.S. dollars), marking a year-on-year increase of 22.12 percent. We have also established a green channel for the Olympic Games to ensure that sporting goods made in China can be shipped to the event on time," said Shao Fangbing, vice section chief of the export department of Haishu Customs in Ningbo City.

The Paris Olympic Games are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, with the Paralympics following soon after from August 28 to September 8.

Sales of China-made Olympic products surge ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

Sales of China-made Olympic products surge ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit resonated with the common aspiration of more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people and demonstrated China's firm will of moving forward hand-in-hand with Africa along the path of development, revitalization and modernization, several participants at the event have said.

In his speech on Thursday, Xi proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

He also announced that the Chinese government will provide 360 billion yuan (about 50.8 billion U.S. dollars) of financial support to Africa over the next three years.

"Everyone was happy to hear those news, so everyone was clapping. So now we are going to a higher level of relations between China and Africa," said Hamidou, a counselor at the Embassy of Comoros in Beijing.

"China understands Africa's urgent desire to advance modernization. We can learn a lot from China's development," said Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso Karamoko Jean Marie Traore.

Xi also suggested 10 partnership actions for modernization that China will take together with Africa in the next three years to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead modernization in the Global South.

"President Xi, through his long vision of the needs of countries and his interest in supporting development, has offered this as a real vehicle to promote exports of Africa to China, which is a huge market," said Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Professions (UACCIAP).

"As he told this morning, we have many projects in digitalization, in capacity building, in health centers, support for health, for infrastructure, in the framework of the Belt and [Road]. And we think that we are very satisfied with this partnership. This is a win-win partnership," said Gabriel Mbairobe, Cameroon's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, the 2024 FOCAC summit brought together leaders from China and over 50 African countries, who highlighted the common pursuit of China and African countries in realizing modernization.

During the summit, both sides unanimously adopted two important documents -- a declaration on jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and an action plan of the FOCAC for the next three years.

Xi's speech at FOCAC summit resonates with people's common aspiration: participants