BEIJING , April 17,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Purchasers were seen carrying
luggage, exchanging name cards when passing by each other, and
rushing through the exhibition halls of the Canton Fair on Monday
morning, the first day of the 135th session of China's landmark trade fair, which will run
until May 5.
On the first day of the 135th session of the China Import and
Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, over 60,000 global
purchasers visited the physical exhibition halls.
By Sunday, more than 149,000 purchasers from 215 countries and
regions had registered to visit the 135th session of Canton Fair,
up 17.4 percent from the 134th session held in October and
November 2023, the Global Times
learned from the fair organizer.
With an exhibition area of 1.55 million square meters, the fair
accommodates 28,600 enterprises attending the export exhibition and
680 firms attending the import exhibition.
One buyer from Brazil,bringing a huge suitcase with him, was
rushing to the exhibition hall for new-energy vehicles (NEVs).
"The suitcase is used to hold exhibitors' brochures and business
cards. I'm planning to take about 80 booklets today, which is a
heavy burden if I carry them by hand," the buyer, who was in too
much of a hurry to share his name, told the Global Times on
Monday.
While experienced purchasers from all over the world attending
the Canton Fair are trying to improve their efficiency, David
Beschaftigt, a first-time Canton Fair participant from Germany, and his peers, were dazzled by the
millions of products on display.
"We're looking for products that are great for selling to
customers in Germany,"
Beschaftigt, a representative of an e-commerce platform, told the
Global Times on Monday.
"It's very big here. We first look with our eyes, touch the
things and check the quality. And then we can do some research if
the products are interesting to sell and whether we can make
profit," Beschaftigt said.
They are among the global purchasers at the Canton Fair hoping
to explore the latest high-quality products for global
customers.
Helpful, open to all
Exhibitors said that attending the 135th Canton Fair helps
enterprises grab global orders, expand the market and help
consolidate China's foreign trade
and foreign investment.
"We export about $30-50 million
worth of electric bicycles to the world every year, mainly to
Europe and North America," Eddie
Xu, sales manager at Jinhua-based Yongkang Lohas Vehicle Co,
told the Global Times on Monday at the Canton Fair.
Xu said the company attends many exhibitions domestically and
overseas, but the Canton Fair is the most effective one as it
targets the largest customer group.
Lu Aohua, sales manager at Ji'nan-based Gweike Tech Co, echoed
Xu by saying that the exhibition halls of some expos overseas are
relatively small, as are the number of visitors.
"But the Canton Fair is different. It is large, and the
categories of products on display are comprehensive. It's easy to
set up contacts with upstream and downstream enterprises, which
makes potential customer exploration easier," Lu told the Global
Times on Monday at the fair.
Gweike, a manufacturer of laser cutting machines, exports about
1.2 billion yuan ($166 million) worth of products annually, mainly
to the US, Turkey, Russia, Italy
and some South American countries, according to Lu.
Lu also said that he feels a larger crowd of overseas purchasers
have come to this edition of the Canton Fair than at the 134th
session held in October and November in 2023.
Many other exhibitors shared the same feeling. One salesperson
at Supcon Chemical Industry Indonesia told the Global Times that
she is already exhausted from having received some 60 batches of
customers by 2 pm on Monday.
The Canton Fair, often dubbed the No.1 expo in the world in
terms of scale, is seen as a symbol of foreign trade that gives
confidence to international commerce dealers. The fair's popularity
tells of the vitality of China's
foreign trade and attractiveness to global participants.
The fair is now open to all, so global exporters and importers
can enjoy the dividends of China's
opening-up.
More than 9.3 million overseas merchants have participated in
the Canton Fair since the first session held in 1957, the Global
Times learned from the Canton Fair organizer. The number of global
cooperation partners comes to 195, which has strongly promoted
trade and people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries and regions in the
world.
China vows to pursue
higher-level opening-up and to promote mutual benefits, as was
announced in this year's Government Work Report.
"We will promote coordinated development of domestic and foreign
trade. Major trade events will be hosted, such as the China
International Import Expo, the China Import and Export Fair, the
China International Fair for Trade in Services, the Global Digital
Trade Expo, and the China International Consumer Products Expo,"
read the report.
The Canton Fair, together with other events, demonstrates
China's determination to expand
high-level opening-up and promotes an open world economy and
mutually beneficial cooperation.
Behind these major events is the transformation and upgrading of
China's economic structure.
Transformation and upgrading
The Canton Fair, for example, used to mainly showcase consumer
goods, but in recent years, the proportion of intermediate and
capital goods on display has increased to 12 percent.
In the machinery exhibition area where capital goods are
concentrated, the number of booths has increased by more than 50
percent in the past five years.
Capital goods and intermediate goods are becoming more and more
important in the Canton Fair, through which China provides the world with a large number
of high-quality products with strong competitiveness and stable
supply.
This has helped all countries and regions, especially developing
countries, achieve industrialization and enhanced the resilience
and stability of industrial and supply chains in the world.
The Canton Fair released on Friday a survey of exhibitors, which
showed that more than 80 percent of them know more suppliers
through the Canton Fair, 64 percent of exhibitors found more
suitable supporting services providers, and 62 percent of
exhibitors obtained more efficient production alternatives.
Consumer goods displayed at the Canton Fair are also smarter and
greener, showcasing the country's advanced manufacturing level.
The number of exhibitors for sectors such as NEVs, smart
transportation, industrial automation, intelligent manufacturing
and new-energy materials increased during the current Canton
Fair.
There are more than 90,000 intelligent products such as
brain-computer interface bionic hands, automatic navigation and
transportation equipment, and artificial intelligence (AI)
translation machines. More than 50 percent of exhibitors are
actively applying digital technologies such as AI and big data
analysis to transform production and operation.
Over 1 million new products are expected to be showcased at the
first phase of the 135th session of Canton Fair, from Monday to
Friday, themed "advanced manufacturing." Of these, 450,000 are
green and low-carbon items and more than 250,000 are products with
independent intellectual properties, the Global Times learned from
the Canton Fair organizer.
The spring Canton Fair is divided into three phases, with the
second phase themed "quality home furnishings" from April 23 to 27, and the third phase themed
"better life" from May 1 to 5.
A cross-border e-commerce pilot zone and overseas warehouse zone
were set up for the first time, with a total exhibition area of
3,000 square meters. A total of 165 e-commerce comprehensive pilot
zones are promoted on the Canton Fair online platform.
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SOURCE Global Times