Stephen Engle

I don't know how they talk so much.

Everything you would possibly need to know about Vietnamese iced tea.

And other products from overseas, doesn't matter if it's New Zealand milk powder and ice cream or Italian cleaning supplies, complete with a Mandarin-speaking European.

They're all competing for Chinese cyber shoppers in a market where around 40% of all retail sales are now done online.

Online shopping in China is growing at three times the pace of traditional retail, with many brick-and-mortar outlets feeling that pain.

CPI did pick up slightly in October, but overall retail spending is expected to have slowed again as households hold on to savings amid economic uncertainty.

Add to that our lingering worries importers and exporters here feel about the fragile trade truce with the United States.

U.S.

wine exports to China this year were down 77 percent in the seven months through July from a year ago, with Chinese tariffs and taxes combined amounting to about 75 percent on American wine.

And yet Barros is cautiously optimistic for a recovery as the truce has kept tariffs from escalating further.

It's an endurance game shared in some respect by the many influencers in nearby booths.

To keep talking and to keep the parties on the other end engaged.

Stephen Engel, Bloomberg News, Shanghai.