Chinese exhibitors secure orders with innovation, industrial collaboration at Canton Fair

Facing rising raw material costs driven by fluctuating international oil prices, Chinese exhibitors at the 139th Canton Fair turned to industrial chain collaboration and product innovation to stabilize pricing, winning over overseas buyers with high quality at competitive prices.

The third phase of the 139th China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, ran from May 1 to 5 in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, featuring a dazzling array of lifestyle products.

The five-day segment of the world's largest trade fair focuses on toys, maternity and childcare products, home textiles, stationery, as well as health and leisure goods, with an exhibition area of ​​515,000 square meters and 25,000 booths.

In the maternity and childcare products zone, Chris, a buyer from Ecuador, moved from booth to booth comparing exhibits' features and prices. He said that he arrived in Guangzhou with concerns that oil price volatility would drive up costs for plastic-based goods. But what he found instead was a marketplace where innovation offset inflation.

"Coming to Canton Fair and finding directly the real factory, the direct suppliers, it's going to help us a lot as importers to get the best price and the best quality in the products. I come to see this factory and see they have a lot of innovation, a lot of creativity, creating new products and technologies. So definitely I'm going to keep working with this company," said Chris.

Exhibitors emphasized that their response to cost pressures is strategic, not reactive. Wu Xijie from Shenzhen Konie Baby Products Co., Ltd. explained how her company navigated the challenge without resorting to blanket price hikes.

"Fluctuations in oil prices have placed considerable pressure on our industry. As a company, our response strategy is not to passively raise prices, but to proactively stabilize pricing and enhance value through innovation and industrial collaboration. At the same time, we quickly adjusted our production processes to respond to volatility in raw material costs. At this exhibition, we have received orders from customers in different countries, with tentative order values reaching approximately 3 million U.S. dollars," said Wu.

This quality-first, value-driven approach reflects a broader evolution in China's manufacturing sector. Companies are increasingly viewing external pressures not as threats to be absorbed, but as opportunities to differentiate through design, efficiency, and supply chain integration.

"I think Canton Fair is still really the number one expo that everyone should look forward to for all industries. And looking forward to the future, we would like to see more quality products and technological advancements that can help our businesses," said Edrich Jordan Ayroso, a buyer from the Philippines.

Chinese exhibitors secure orders with innovation, industrial collaboration at Canton Fair

All the people injured in the fireworks plant explosion on Monday in central China's Hunan Province have been sent to local hospitals for treatment, according to authorities.

The accident has left 26 people dead and 61 others injured, according to officials speaking at a press conference on Tuesday.

The explosion occurred on Monday afternoon at the plant of Huasheng fireworks manufacturing and display company in Liuyang, a county-level city in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan.

"When I arrived at the scene, I saw everything was flattened. Everything. Look at me. I'm all covered by mud and sand stirred up by the explosion," said local villager Wu Yuliang.

Following the explosion, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all-out efforts to locate those still unaccounted for and to treat the injured. The person in charge of the company where the accident occurred has been detained by police.

More than 480 rescuers, organized into five teams, have been deployed, along with three rescue robots to support operations.

At Tuesday's press conference, local officials said the situation remains challenging, with difficulties in controlling the fire, extinguishing the blaze, and carrying out search and rescue operations.

"A large quantity of explosives stored in the warehouse area could not be moved immediately, posing a direct threat to the safety of our rescue personnel. Second, the accident site was chaotic since basically all buildings' walls, beams, columns, and roofs have collapsed, creating extensive rubble. People were buried under the debris, passageways were blocked, and our rescue efforts were severely hampered," said Ding Weiming, Party secretary and political commissar of Changsha's fire and rescue team.

The injured have been rushed to two hospitals for emergency treatment after the explosion, with most suffering from bone injuries.

A medical task force of leading experts in burns, intensive care, and trauma surgery has been assembled.

The People's Hospital of Liuyang received 25 of the injured people.

"She has fractures in both legs. The doctor won't allow her to walk or get out of bed. She can only use a wheelchair to get around. I have to carry her to the bathroom," one victim's son told reporters at his mother’s bedside in hospital.

All patients are reported to be in stable condition, though doctors say they will require further observation for more than 24 hours.

"For now, we don't recommend that they rush to be discharged, as there is still some psychological trauma and stress that we need to monitor," said Ding Shengqiang, head of the hospital's medical department.

After all of the city's fireworks enterprises were shut down on Monday night, local officials said a large-scale safety inspection will be carried out to address regulatory gaps and strengthen overall safety standards.

All injured hospitalized after central China fireworks plant explosion