The 134th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) opened in Guangzhou on October 15. It is held in three phases from October 15 to November 4, while the online platform operates on a regular basis. The scale of this Canton Fair has hit a new high, with a total exhibition area of 1.55 million square meters, an increase of 50,000 square meters over the previous session. The total number of booths is 74,000, an increase of nearly 4,600 over the last session. There are 28,533 exhibiting enterprises, an increase of 3,135 over the previous session. Among them, there are 27,883 export exhibitors and 650 import exhibitors.

01 Brand exhibition area debuts with steadily improving exhibition quality

A major innovation of this Canton Fair is the establishment of brand exhibition areas in 5 exhibition areas: industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, new energy vehicles and smart travel, maternal and infant products, new energy, and pet supplies. The number of brand exhibitors has also increased. For example, the number of brand enterprises in the electromechanical industry has increased significantly compared with the previous session, with over 120% increase for home appliance companies, over 100% increase for industrial manufacturing companies, and over 50% increase for lighting and electrical, vehicles and motorcycles, and hardware and tools companies.

While the number has increased, the quality of exhibitors at this Canton Fair has also steadily improved, especially with the participation of more new enterprises, injecting new vitality into the fair. At this Canton Fair, production enterprises and private enterprises are the largest exhibitors, accounting for 50% and 90% respectively. High-quality enterprises such as specialized and innovative "hidden champions", manufacturing single item champions, national high-tech enterprises, AEO advanced certified by Customs, national enterprise technology centers, time-honored Chinese brands maintained growth, with about 4,600 companies.

02 Improved service guarantees and significant spillover effects of the fair

The Canton Fair has provided buyers with a number of convenient services. It has extensively attracted businesses through 224 overseas embassies and commercial offices, 68 foreign consulates general in Guangzhou, and 190 global partners of the Canton Fair. It coordinated embassies and consulates to open "green channels" to improve visa efficiency. At the same time, it also collaborated with Southern Airlines, Qatar Airways and other airlines to offer discounts on air tickets with Canton Fair registration certificates. In addition, a total of 237 registration points have been set up at exhibition halls, hotels and airports, 140 more than the previous session. On-site 24-hour registration started on October 12, allowing overseas buyers to easily register upon landing or arriving at the hotel. Finally, this Canton Fair made efforts in transportation management, by increasing metro and bus capacity, improving emergency access, adding guiding signs, etc., to make it easier for exhibitors and buyers to travel during the fair.

With hitting new highs in various data, and high enthusiasm of domestic and foreign exhibitors, the Canton Fair will help promote global economic and trade circulation. Although overseas buyers are still recovering, their willingness and speed of placing orders are stronger. In addition to on-site transactions, many buyers have also scheduled on-site factory visits, while actively participating in online exhibitions, which are expected to lead to more cooperation in the future, further leveraging the spillover effects of the Canton Fair. As an important platform for global exhibitors and buyers to perceive market conditions and feel the pulse of global economic and trade development, the Canton Fair allows them to meet new partners and discover new business opportunities.

03 Online and offline integration empowers and enriches supporting activities

This Canton Fair still adopts the model of online and offline integration, while improving 101 functions of the online platform, making it easier for exhibitors to check purchase intentions and manage business leads. The addition of the online platform helps highlight product features and add industry attribute parameters for buyers to search online. In the process of integrating with the offline exhibition, it enables pre-matching between buyers and sellers before the exhibition to improve connection efficiency and better promote transactions. This year, many companies have actively utilized the online platform of the Canton Fair, showcasing their products in a comprehensive manner through pictures, videos, live streaming, etc.

In the upcoming exhibitions, supporting activities will also be a highlight. This Canton Fair plans to hold 2 specialized forums on green trade and trade digitalization, 5 industry forums such as home appliances and medical devices, and more than 10 "Trade Bridge" trade promotion activities. It will also continue to hold the Canton Fair Design Awards. After the shortlist award in June and offline review in August, 141 products from 118 units won the Supreme Gold Award, Gold Award, Silver Award and Bronze Award respectively, while 3 products from 3 units won the Sustainable Development Award at the same time. The Canton Fair Design Awards are both an encouragement for active innovation by participants and a way to identify benchmarks and directions for the industry.

04 Perspectives

After 65 years of tempering, the Canton Fair has become the industry's recognized "No.1 Fair in China" and the world's largest physical exhibition. After “Cloud Canton Fair”, the Canton Fair has fully resumed offline exhibitions with various data hitting new highs. Improving supporting services have also set industry benchmarks. By promoting the integration of domestic and foreign trade, imports and exports, as well as exhibitions and conferences, the Canton Fair continues to explore multidimensional possibilities; adheres to green conventions and exhibitions, continues to explore new models, builds a mature exhibitor system, and depicts the bright landscape of China's foreign trade and import and export with greater scale and new outlook. In the future, the Canton Fair will continue to serve as a platform connecting domestic and international markets, injecting lasting impetus into the dual circulation.

Data Source | Official Canton Fair WeChat Account

Text | Yang Rui

Layout | Chen Yifan

Editor | Mao Haijun