Canton Fair involves more high-quality domestic firms

The current 139th China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, has involved more high-quality domestic firms than its previous editions since 2023, when the fair resumed full offline operations. At the 133rd Canton Fair in 2023, some 4,500 high-quality firms, including national level high-tech enterprises, enterprises that use advanced technologies to produce unique and innovative products, and leading manufacturing enterprises participated in the exhibition. The figure rose to 11,000 at the current fair, marking an increase of 1.4 times over the four years.

"At this edition of Canton Fair, high-quality enterprises account for 35 percent of the total exhibitors. These companies are leveraging high-tech, high-efficiency, and high-quality business modes to expand their markets and quicken the pace for their products, brands, solutions, and businesses to go overseas," said Ding Shuang, deputy head of the Canton Fair's business office. In terms of quantity, the 139th Canton Fair features 4.65 million exhibits - 1.55 times that at the 133rd edition - with the proportion of green and low-carbon and smart products continuing to rise.

"New products, green products, and products with independent intellectual property rights have all taken a bigger share of more 20 percent. Through innovation-driven efforts, enterprises have accelerated the technological iteration of digital and low-carbon technologies, jumping from 'made in China' to 'created in China' and moving toward the mid-to-high end of the global industrial chain," said Ding.

Over the past four years, core indicators of the numbers of purchasers at the Canton Fair, leading multinational purchasing companies, and business delegations, have repeatedly set new records. During the first two phases of the 139th fair alone, the number of buyer visits reached 245,000, including 140 organized trade delegations and 344 leading multinational purchasing companies, all showing significant year-on-year growth.

"There has been a significant increase in the presence of buyers from North America and other markets, while participation from Belt and Road countries has remained steady. At this edition of the Canton Fair, a large number of leading procurement companies from the Middle East are still attending in person, demonstrating their confidence with their actions," said Ding.

The 139th Canton Fair runs from April 15 till May 5 in three phases. Covering 1.55 million square meters, the fair features 75,700 booths and more than 32,000 enterprises, including about 3,900 first time exhibitors.

Established in 1957, the Canton Fair takes place twice a year in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. It is the longest-running of several comprehensive international trade events in China, and has been hailed as the barometer of China's foreign trade.

Canton Fair involves more high-quality domestic firms

The on-site search for survivors has largely concluded following a deadly explosion at a fireworks factory in central China's Hunan Province on Monday, which killed 26 people and injured 61 others, local authorities said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The blast occurred at around 16:40 on Monday at a workshop of Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Co., Ltd. in Liuyang, a county-level city under Changsha, the provincial capital.

Officials paused to mourn the victims at the beginning of the news conference. Among the injured, 55 with minor wounds have received treatment and are in stable conditions.

"More than 1,500 personnel from the fire, emergency response, public security and health departments have been deployed to carry out rescue operations, on-site response and medical treatment in an orderly manner. On-site search and rescue has now basically completed, and identity verification of the victims is underway. The leaders of the company concerned have been taken into legal custody. Real-time monitoring of air and water shows that the relevant environmental indicators are normal," said Chen Bozhang, mayor of Changsha City and deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Changsha Municipal Committee.

The Hunan provincial fire and rescue authorities dispatched 482 personnel, 116 fire trucks, 15 sniffer dogs, 18 drones, six robots and one robot dog to the scene, successfully pulling out seven trapped individuals.

"Next, we will concentrate the best medical resources to conduct case-by-case assessments of the injured, closely monitor their conditions, and dynamically adjust treatment plans to provide meticulous care. A special task force has been set up for follow-up assistance, adopting a 'one special team for one victim (family)' approach to proactively contact the families of the deceased and injured, and establish a closed-loop mechanism for learning about and addressing their needs," Chen said.

The mayor also vowed a full, transparent investigation into the cause of the accident.

"We will fully cooperate in the accident investigation, strictly adhering to the principles of seeking truth from facts and confronting problems head-on. We will carry out a comprehensive, in-depth and penetrating investigation to fully reconstruct the entire process and chain of the accident," he said.

Since 19:00 on Monday, all fireworks production enterprises in Changsha have suspended operations for safety rectification. Citywide safety inspections are underway to close regulatory loopholes, reinforce corporate responsibility and improve overall safety standards.

Death toll rises to 26 in central China fireworks plant explosion