Innovative Chinese products gain instant traction among global buyers after debuting at Canton Fair

Innovative Chinese products making their debut at the ongoing 140th China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, are drawing strong interest from international buyers, with many new items already receiving large global pre-orders.

The fair, which opened Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, features record shares of new and green products among its exhibits, with 32,000 companies gathered for the three-phase trade show.

Serving as a barometer and wind vane of China's foreign trade, this year's fair, marking its 70th anniversary, features innovation, intelligence, greater specialization and higher quality.

This year's Canton Fair has introduced a dedicated area for new product debuts. It showcases Chinese companies' latest innovations, helping connect their products with the market and allowing foreign buyers to grasp new industry trends.

A newly launched portable folding fan that both cools and heats has won favor with buyers for its dual-use design, drawing a surge of on-site purchase inquiries.

"I'm very interested. I specialize in portable fans, and I've never seen one that can both cool and heat," a foreign buyer said.

The exhibitor that developed the fan said interest from buyers has remained high, pushing the company to shorten its prototyping cycle and improve delivery efficiency.

"Over the past few days, around 30 to 40 customers have expressed intent to do business with us. Our research and development team has about 40 to 50 people, and we are now focused on prototyping this product. Previously, prototyping took about 15 days. Now we have shortened the process to three to five days to deliver a complete sample," said a representative of the exhibitor.

Many new products, before officially hitting the market, have gained early attention at the Canton Fair. One standout is an ultra-thin household ice frying machine that needs no pre-cooling and can automatically make smoothies in minutes. After its debut, it quickly won over international buyers.

"The ultra-thin ice frying machine we've developed has not gone on the market yet. Right after its debut yesterday, it drew interest from multiple chain supermarkets and brands. We have already received prototyping requests from six companies worldwide," said a representative of the ice frying machine exhibitor.

High-end manufacturing products are equally popular. In the two-wheeler exhibition area, the booth of Chinese motorcycle maker ZXMOTO are continuously packed with curious buyers.

When the company first attended the Canton Fair half a year ago, it was still looking for potential overseas distributors. At this fair, a large number of overseas buyers have taken the initiative to discuss regional distributorships and orders.

"Hundreds of people come by every day to take photos with our championship model. Some overseas buyers have directly expressed interest in becoming our brand's local distributor, but because we need to review qualifications, we don't make decisions right away," said an exhibition representative of ZXMOTO.

The company rolled out more than 10 new models, including the prototype that won a world-class motorcycle race, adventure bikes, and off-road dirt bikes at the fair. Their solid quality and design drew praise from many buyers.

"Because in our country we love motorcycles, especially that type of bike, and all our friends -- we do motorcycles. Quality, design, everything is very nice," said a buyer.

The 140th Canton Fair is scheduled to host more than 700 new product launch events, with the number of debut products up 15 percent year on year. Among them, new products in emerging industries such as service robots, smart healthcare, and new energy rose by about 20 percent. New products account for 23.2 percent of all exhibits, a record high.

A staff member of the China Foreign Trade Center (CFTC), which organizes the fair, said that concentrated showcases of new products help companies close deals more effectively.

"We've set up a dedicated zone for new product debuts for the first time. Through exhibitions and events, we hope to present new products in an all-round way, help companies launch products, build brands, and promote deals. Overall, intelligent, convenient, and practical products are more popular with buyers," said Li Qinke, a staff member of the CFTC.

The Canton Fair is held every spring and autumn in Guangzhou since its founding in 1957. It has been seen as a barometer of China's foreign trade. The current edition of the event will last until early November.

Innovative Chinese products gain instant traction among global buyers after debuting at Canton Fair

Innovative Chinese products gain instant traction among global buyers after debuting at Canton Fair

Innovative Chinese products gain instant traction among global buyers after debuting at Canton Fair

The China International Import Expo (CIIE) offers foreign companies a key trade platform to showcase their products and expand sales in China, a business leader has said, noting that many Portuguese companies are keen to participate again this year. In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Bernardo Mendia, secretary-general of the Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the chamber promotes the CIIE widely in Portugal through its online platforms and at physical events held every year. "I'm aware that many Portuguese companies will participate. We as China-Portugal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we promote widely in Portugal through all our online platforms. We also organize every year, we try to organize or at least participate in a physical event in Portugal to promote China International Import Fair. And the AICEP, which is the Portuguese investment agency, every year they organize a group of Portuguese companies and they themselves are present there with their own booth," Mendia said.

"I believe this year will not be an exception, and so they will participate again. It's a quite relevant participation. We understand that this has a lot of interest for our companies, because it's a trade exhibition that is for foreign entities to showcase their products and make sales in China. So it's precisely what we need to do more, so it's perfect. And we are very happy that China is still continuing to organize and put so much importance in this exhibition in Shanghai," he said.

The ninth CIIE will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. Launched in 2018 as the world's first national-level expo dedicated to imports, the CIIE was designed to expand China's opening-up and turn its vast market into a shared opportunity for the world.

China's import expo offers foreign companies key platform to showcase products: chamber head