2024 Canton Fair sees significant increase in innovative exhibitors: organizer

Deputy secretary-general of the 2024 Canton Fair, China's oldest international trade event, said on Thursday that the ongoing spring session of this year's fair sees a noticeable increase in the attending innovative companies.

Also known as the China Import and Export Fair, the biannual event held in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, is considered a major gauge of China's foreign trade.

This time the fair has seen the participation of over Chinese 5,000 exhibitors who are certified as "national high-tech enterprises," and leaders in a specific manufacturing sector or named as "little giants," enterprises that use special and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products.

"The number of innovative enterprises has significantly increased. There are over 5,500 high-quality enterprises with titles such as national-level high-tech company, manufacturing champion for a certain sector, and 'small giant', a 20 percent increase compared with the previous session," Zhang Sihong, deputy secretary general of the Canton Fair.

Zhang said a great number of cutting-edge products brought by these high-tech companies will meet face to face with expo visitors and over one million new products are to be presented at the event.

"Nearly 3,600 exhibiting companies have business related to digital technology and intelligent manufacturing. They will showcase intelligent products, including brain-computer interface bionic hands, automatic navigation transportation equipment, and AI translation devices. By estimate over one million new products and more than 450,000 green products will be presented at this year's session," he said.

"As of April 17th, the event has attracted more than 108,000 overseas buyers from 212 countries and regions, a 23 percent increase compared with the same period for the last session," Zhang added, emphasizing that this year's Canton Fair will continue to see a noticeable increase in overseas purchasers.

The spring session of the ongoing Canton Fair is scheduled to run until May 5.

2024 Canton Fair sees significant increase in innovative exhibitors: organizer

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The 135th session of the China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, has already drawn to it 310 international delegations from 67 other countries and regions as of May 1, highlighting the fair's popularity and the strong confidence foreign companies have in the Chinese market and products.

The session has brought together 29,000 participating enterprises from both China and other  countries, with 74,000 exhibition booths. The event has been attended by 221,018 overseas purchasers from 215 other countries and regions, marking a 24.6 percent year-on-year increase as of May 1. 

The 135th session of the Canton Fair runs from April 15 to May 5 in three five-day phases.

Themed as "A Better Life," the third and final phase of the 135th session of the Canton Fair runs from May 1 to May 5.  A total of 21 exhibition zones in five major categories have been in place, which display commodities including toys, baby and pregnancy products, household textiles, stationery and health and leisure items. 

A Turkish purchasing group of more than 40 people has arrived at the fair for business negotiations. The group's leader, Emin, highlighted the importance of the fair in accessing cutting-edge products and technologies as well as the latest trends of markets.

"A saying in Türkiye states that if a businessperson or a company does not attend the Canton Fair, it is not truly engaged in international trade. For those in the international business sector, attending the fair is crucial for understanding the Chinese market," said Emin. 

The Canton Fair represents one of the grandest events on the global trade calendar. Since 1957 when its first edition took place in Guangzhou China, this biannual fair has expanded into an enormous platform for both imports and exports from across industries - featuring products from numerous sectors every spring and autumn respectively.

Canton Fair draws 310 international delegations with cutting-edge Chinese products