CDG China Advisory

China-side commercial intelligence for European and US industrial companies.

Practical sourcing, distributor, route-to-market and counterparty analysis from a former General Manager, Greater China at CRC Industries (China distributor network 6 to 80+, WFOE, full P&L), with 26 years of living and working in Shanghai behind it.

CDG China Advisory is the advisory platform of Celso de Graaf, focused on China-side commercial, sourcing, distributor and counterparty analysis for European and US industrial companies. It is a single-operator advisory platform, not a large firm. The underlying discipline is always the same: deep commercial and strategic analysis, here applied to the China side, but valuable for any complex commercial or strategic question.

What I help with

Where China-side commercial judgement is needed

Supplier and sourcing assessment
Distributor and route-to-market review
China-side commercial due diligence
Ownership and counterparty risk mapping
Industrial channel and market-entry diagnostics
China–Europe commercial coordination
Independent on-the-ground representation in Shanghai: supplier management, QC presence and distributor development

Each engagement runs to a fixed scope with a defined deliverable, and usually starts with a short, focused diagnostic.

About

Why Celso de Graaf

Former General Manager, Greater China at CRC Industries (US specialty chemicals).
Built the China distributor network from 6 to 80+ partners and a 20-person commercial team.
Lived and worked in Shanghai for 26 years (1999–2025), and still keeps a home and family there.
Background across industrial, MRO and specialty-chemicals channels, sourcing and cross-border trade.
Works evidence-first, using structured open-source and commercial-research methods.
Delivers work from the Netherlands and on the ground in China, with a local network built over 26 years.

Selected work themes

Selected work examples

China sourcing and distribution strategy for the industrial / MRO sector.
Cross-border ownership and counterparty due diligence in an offshore context.
Commercial and business-model review for a Netherlands-based services firm.

Selected work examples are described in general terms. References are available on request for selected advisory and commercial-research work.