Canton Fair is an open international trade platform to "buy from and sell to the globe"

At the opening press conference of the 124th Canton Fair held on October 14, Xu Bing, spokesperson of the Canton Fair and Deputy Director General of the China Foreign Trade Centre, introduced the relevant information of the Canton Fair's International Pavilion.
Xu Bing said that in order to better adapt to the new situation of opening up, expand imports, increase exports, and promote coordinated and balanced development of foreign trade, the Chinese government decided that from the 101st session, the Canton Fair would be renamed the China Import and Export Fair. This is a significant reform in the history of the development of the Canton Fair. Since the first International Pavilion in the 101st session in 2007, the specialization and internationalization of International Pavilions have been steadily improved, which has greatly promoted exports of all countries to China and the growth of global trade. The Canton Fair has become an open international trade platform to “buy from and sell to the globe”.

Expand imports. Since the International Pavilion was established, it has attracted 12,664 overseas high-quality enterprises, including National Pavilions such as South Korea, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, India and regional pavilions such as Macau and Taiwan. The International Pavilion provides an opportunity for overseas companies to enter the huge consumer market of China and is known as the “fast track to open the Chinese market”. FRESH, a well-known brand of Egyptian home appliance has continuously participated in the Canton Fair's International Pavilion for 16 times and reached a long-term cooperation intention with well-known Chinese home appliance brands of the National Pavilion. A home appliance company in South Korea successfully entered the Chinese market through the International Pavilion. In just a few years, it has opened more than 50 physical stores in China. The UK Cascade company not only obtained a large number of orders, but also began to consider shifting their business focus from “buy from China” to “sell to China” because of exceeded expectation.

Help overseas companies achieve “sell to the globe”. The Canton Fair's International Pavilion helps overseas companies to exploit the huge potential of the Chinese market, allowing them to share the vast global buyer resources of the Canton Fair and provide an open and effective platform for them to sell their products to the global market. Caterpillar Inc. of the United States, world's top 500 companies, regards the International Pavilion as an important platform for obtaining international orders. An exhibiting company from India met with Sabaf from Italy of the same industry. The two companies shared resources and developed an innovative stove with European style for the Indian market. Polytron, Indonesia's largest electrical appliance manufacturer, has participated in many sessions and explored overseas markets actively through the Canton Fair.

The quality of International Pavilions has been steadily increased. The scale of the exhibition doubled. The exhibition area of the 101st International Pavilion was 10,400 square meters with 314 companies participating in. In the 124th Canton Fair, the exhibition area of was 20,000 square meters with 636 exhibiting companies. The quality of exhibitors has improved, and many world-famous industry leaders such as the US, UK, Italy, and South Korea have participated in world-class industrial clusters. The strength of buyers has been enhanced; many large retailers and well-known cross-border trade companies such as Vipshop, Suning Yunshang, SF Express, JD.com, Tmall, Beijing Hualian, Lotus, Wal-Mart have participated and sourced for long. The “Exhibition and Trade Promotion” campaign was carried out in depth. The International Pavilion invited representatives of outstanding exhibitors, well-known domestic cross-border e-commerce platforms, import sourcing companies, and experts from free trade area offices, customs, inspection and quarantine bureaus to gather together, hold various trade matching events, special presentations, etc., to share national policies and market trends, and to improve the effectiveness of trade fairs.

Xu Bing said that since this year, China has actively expanded its imports. The 124th Canton Fair will continue to improve the level of exhibitions. There are 636 exhibitors from 34 countries and regions, an increase of 19 from the previous session. There are 10 national and regional pavilions, and the top five countries and regions in the exhibition area are Korea, Turkey, India, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

The “Belt and Road” enterprises are the main participants of the International Pavilion. There are 381 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions in the “Belt and Road” initiative, with 615 booths in this year’s International Pavilion, accounting for 60% and 62% of the International Pavilion respectively, covering all 6 product zones of the International Pavilion, including electronics and home appliances, building materials and hardware, machinery and equipment of Phase 1, food and beverage, household items, fabrics and home textiles of the Phase 3. Countries such as Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, India, Thailand, and Pakistan organize exhibitions in the form of national pavilions.

The theme of the show is more abundant. In response to the needs of the Chinese market, we will continue to set up baby products area, international daily chemicals health area to attract high-end organic daily brands from France, Australia and South Korea.
Exhibitors are better. Internationally renowned industry leaders continue to participate, including Fortune magazine's top 500 US Honeywell and Caterpillar, Italy's gas accessories leader Sabaf. World-class industrial clusters are actively participating, including Italian kitchen and bathroom products, intelligent household appliances in Korea, and high-end kitchen appliances in Turkey.

The supporting activities are more wonderful. Focusing on “Belt and Road” cooperation and current import market hotspots, we will organize special exchanges with consulates in Guangzhou, global strategic partners and overseas business associations to help the participating national pavilions and companies to enhance trade effectiveness.

 (Canton Fair Press Center)