CPHI China 2026:
Beyond the Exhibition Halls

As a European contract manufacturer, our objective in Shanghai was never simply to discover the next raw material or the next supplier.

We travelled to understand where manufacturing is heading, how equipment is evolving, and which engineering decisions are shaping the future of nutraceutical production.

Looking Beyond Product Labels and Marketing Claims

That meant looking beyond product labels and marketing claims. We spent considerably more time standing next to packaging lines, opening electrical cabinets, discussing automation with engineers and questioning machinery manufacturers than talking about finished formulations. For us, the exhibition was never intended to be the destination. It was simply the starting point of a manufacturing journey across China.

Why CPHI China Feels Different From European Exhibitions

The scale of CPHI China is difficult to appreciate until you experience it in person.

An Exhibition on an Extraordinary Scale

Hall after hall, thousands of exhibitors, machinery operating continuously and entire pavilions dedicated to technologies that would occupy an entire exhibition in Europe. Despite being one of the world's largest pharmaceutical and nutraceutical exhibitions, relatively few visitors seemed to come from Europe.

An Ecosystem Increasingly Built Around the Chinese Market

The event increasingly felt like an exhibition built by the Chinese industry for the Chinese industry, with international visitors becoming only one part of a much larger ecosystem.

Different Markets, Different Strategic Priorities

Another observation came from the number of European companies exhibiting finished products while attempting to enter the Chinese consumer market. It was an interesting reminder that every company views the industry through a different lens. While many exhibitors focused on selling into China, many of our discussions with machinery manufacturers increasingly revolved around supplying the United States. Europe, despite remaining one of the world's most regulated supplement markets, received comparatively less strategic attention from many equipment and ingredient suppliers.

Machinery, Automation, and the Future of Sachet Manufacturing

As expected, we spent most of our time with machinery manufacturers. Among the equipment we examined, one type of machine consistently drew our attention: systems capable of automatically dosing multiple capsules or tablets into a single sachet.

As personalised nutrition continues to evolve, this format becomes increasingly attractive. Rather than confirming a completely new direction, these systems reinforced one we had already identified. We continue to see significant opportunities in sachet manufacturing and expect this format to become an increasingly important part of our long-term production strategy as customer demand continues to evolve.

When Mechanical Quality and Automation Choices Tell Different Stories

Looking beyond the stainless steel frames revealed another recurring pattern.

Mechanically, many of the machines we examined were well designed. Frame quality, machining accuracy and general construction have improved considerably over recent years. However, after opening electrical cabinets and discussing automation architecture with engineers, we repeatedly encountered the same engineering decisions. Older PLC platforms, lower-cost sensors and conservative automation choices were recurring themes across many of the machines we inspected.

This is not necessarily a question of whether the machines work—they often do.

The more important question is how easily those machines can be maintained, upgraded and integrated over the next ten or fifteen years. European machinery often reflects decades of incremental refinement, where engineers spend years improving individual subsystems. Across much of the equipment we inspected, the emphasis was clearly placed on achieving practical functionality and manufacturing efficiency rather than long-term engineering elegance.

Why Brochure Capacity Is Not Real Production Capacity

The same conversations quickly exposed another familiar reality: theoretical production capacity and sustainable production capacity are rarely the same thing.

Many manufacturers proudly quoted impressive output figures, but as discussions became more technical, it became clear that the maximum speed printed in a brochure rarely represents stable production under real operating conditions. Every experienced manufacturer understands that difference, which is precisely why exhibitions should be the beginning of supplier evaluation rather than the end.

What Factory Visits Reveal That Exhibitions Cannot

That is exactly what we did next.

Instead of returning directly to Europe, we continued travelling across China, visiting machinery manufacturers, extract producers, cleanroom specialists and long-term supply partners. Those factory visits allowed us to verify engineering quality, observe manufacturing culture and discuss technical challenges where real production takes place rather than where marketing materials are distributed.

European Compliance Is Still Often Underestimated

The discussions also reinforced how differently European regulatory requirements are still understood.

Many suppliers expressed confidence in supplying the European market. However, once conversations moved beyond general certifications into subjects such as documentation, declarations of animal origin, irradiation, market-specific compliance and retailer requirements, it became clear that the complexity of European regulation is still frequently underestimated.

For European manufacturers, compliance rarely exists on a single level.

We operate simultaneously within European legislation, national requirements and, increasingly, retailer-specific standards.
Successfully supplying Europe requires much more than obtaining a certificate—it requires understanding how those regulatory layers interact in practice.

Want to see how this is actually done?

Manufacturing Insight

Why Documentation Must Be Matched With Manufacturing Reality

One practical example involved botanical raw materials.

Several discussions highlighted processing methods that are not always immediately visible from a certificate of analysis.
Certain botanical ingredients, particularly herbs, algae and other plant materials, may undergo processing steps that only become apparent through detailed supplier qualification.

Documentation remains essential, but understanding the manufacturing process behind that documentation is equally important.

Instead, it strengthened our confidence that our current direction remains correct. It also confirmed that not every manufacturing technology needs to exist under one roof.
In some areas, strategic partnerships continue to create more value than vertical integration, allowing investment to remain focused where it delivers the greatest long-term benefit for both our company and our customers.

Why Supplier Relationships Change Face to Face

Perhaps the most valuable lesson from CPHI China had very little to do with machinery.
Travelling to China changes the relationship between customer and supplier.
Investing the time to visit, ask questions, and inspect production in person changes the relationship — you stop being another email address among hundreds of enquiries, and you become someone with a face. For us, that alone made the journey worthwhile.

The Real Journey Began After the Exhibition

CPHI China was never the destination. It was the first chapter of a longer journey, one that only properly began once we left the exhibition halls and started walking through the factories, engineering workshops and production facilities that continue shaping the future of global nutraceutical manufacturing.