First online Canton Fair successfully closes

By Li Gang, People’s Daily

The 127th China Import and Export Fair, also known as Canton Fair, which was moved online for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, came to a successful close on June 24.

The online platform of the event maintained smooth operation, during which nearly 26,000 domestic and foreign enterprises promoted their products online using graphics, videos and 3D images, according to Xu Bing, spokesperson for the fair and deputy director general of China Foreign Trade Center.

This year’s Canton Fair has seen more new products, intelligent products, and high-tech products with independent intellectual property rights, under self-owned brands, and with self-marketing strategies, Xu said, adding that the massive products exhibited online during the event drew the attention of global purchasers.

The five major parts of the Internet-based fair, namely exhibitors and exhibits, news and events, global trade matchmaking, services and support, and cross-border e-commerce complemented and reinforced each other, offering a commerce feast to global buyers and exhibitors.

A wide variety of activities were held during the ten-day online trade fair, including 24 promotion events for purchasers, five online signing ceremonies of trade contracts, and 64 new product launch events of 58 leading enterprises from 20 trading delegations.

Chinese e-commerce platforms JD.com, Yeation and Suning.com were invited to hold an online sourcing briefing event during the fair, which provided a channel for domestic trade.

The fair also joined hands with customs authorities to stage a policy information sharing event to provide professional insights for participants.

The Canton Fair Product Design and Trade Promotion Center (PDC) organized 13 theme events via virtual lectures and live streaming shows, and arranged 20 virtual shows for 33 fashion brands.

In addition, the Canton Fair also launched an online exhibition hall for the first time to display products that won the Canton Fair Design Awards (CF Awards).

The results of the fair met expectations, noted Xu, adding that amid the ongoing pandemic, rising risks of global economic recession and severely battered global trade, the 127th Canton Fair gathered buyers from 217 countries and regions, with the number of sources of buyers reaching a record high in the history of the fair.

The global oriented trade event continued to offer diversified choices for traders all over the world, and help optimize the layout of international markets, Xu said.

Many foreign trade enterprises showed their products, plants and prototype rooms comprehensively via live-streaming during the fair, which allowed them to reach worldwide clients, receive inquiries and sourcing requests and gain fruitful results, Xu disclosed.

Calling the Canton Fair “rain on thirsty land” for enterprises in urgent need of orders, many exhibitors said the event helped them consolidate ties with old customers and make acquaintances with new ones, and that they would hold in-depth negotiations with buyers to strive for more outcomes, according to Xu.

The next Canton Fair is scheduled for late October this year. How the event will be held will depend on the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide and China’s prevention and control measures then.