Companies big and small offered opportunities at Canton Fair

The online 129th Canton Fair has helped enterprises find new customers and expand overseas market, business insiders said.

“The effect is very good. The number of buyers’ inquiries have increased significantly compared with last year,” said Yu Liwei, a marketing executive of Shenzhen G&F Group.

Engaged in textile production and export, G&F has participated in the event 20 consecutive times and recognizes it as a main channel to secure orders from overseas customers.

Last year, the company participated in the online fair sessions and got to grips with live broadcasts for the first time. Now they can operate it skillfully to find new buyers.

What impressed Yu deeply last year was a new cooperation agreement reached with a Japanese buyer. The client now places new orders regularly.

“Once the connection is established, more needs can be found and more cooperation can be created. Many of our customers were met at Canton Fair and then gradually developed into stable customers.”

Yu’s experience is common for many exhibitors. As a barometer of China’s foreign trade, the fair is a channel connecting China’s industrial chain and world demand.

It has also built an excellent platform for commodity exhibition and business negotiation among global suppliers and buyers with bursting opportunity and blooming cooperation. For small and medium-sized enterprises, the role of the Canton Fair is even more significant, officials said.

“If there is no Canton Fair, SMEs like us cannot quickly enter the world market,” said Wang Jianzhong, general manager of Xingtai Tianzheng, a manufacturer of sealing products based in Hebei province.

He began to participate in the fair in the spring of 2011. At that time, the company was newly set up and in urgent need of foreign orders.

Wang received a large number of business inquiries at the fair, and some clients even paid a deposit for orders onsite, later becoming regular clients.

Over the past 64 years since it was launched in 1957, the Canton Fair has been upgraded from an export platform to an all-around platform to boost opening-up.

It has also become a prominent platform to help foreign traders explore the domestic market and promote foreign trade enterprises to participate in the new development patterns in the country, officials said.

Li Ming, general manager of Shandong Heishan, a glass manufacturer, noted the fair’s role in expanding overseas market for the company.

By inviting a large number of domestic buyers, they also made it easier for overseas enterprises to explore the domestic market and enable them to find high-quality export products. This has played an important role in coordinating domestic and overseas resources and developing domestic and foreign markets, Li added.