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As the 2025 Shanghai Tourism Industry Expo closed with five cluster exhibitions, four halls and over 6,000 exhibitors, its 445,737 professional visitors made one thing clear: the commercial refrigeration industry now stands at a crossroads shaped by trade exhibitions. A year later, the 2026 HOTELEX Shanghai exhibition went further still — 400,000 m² of space, more than 4,000 premium global exhibitors, 303,576 professional visitors and 18,431 overseas visitors, a 48% year-on-year increase. Exhibitions are redefining the pace of technological iteration, global-expansion strategy and service models for OEM manufacturers.
For the commercial ice maker industry, trade shows act as an exceptionally efficient “demand collector.” At the concurrent Fifth International Refrigeration Exhibition (RACC 2025), more than 2,000 overseas visitors from 106 countries and regions pre-registered — a 50% year-on-year rise. Refrigeration associations from Malaysia, South Korea and the UAE sent large procurement delegations, focusing on refrigeration and freezing units, innovative cold-chain equipment and smart cold-storage solutions. Exhibitions consolidate genuine demand from many regions onto a limited number of booths, giving manufacturers the most direct window onto market trends.
The market data bears this out. According to Industry Online’s 2025 China Light Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Annual Report, the market grew in both volume and value in 2025 — 18 million units sold (up 3.0%) and RMB 36 billion in revenue (up 2.2%). Remote-controlled refrigerated display cabinets, beverage coolers, vending machines and vehicle-mounted refrigerators each grew more than 10% year on year, driven by the expansion of catering chains, the rapid rise of new-style tea beverages, and cold-chain infrastructure — trends first identified and validated at previous major exhibitions.
