The 135th Canton Fair ended, writing a new chapter of a powerful trading country-the offline export turnover reached US$ 24.7 billion, up by 10.7%.
Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Sun Yiman Shen Wei
Figure/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Liu Chang Zhong Zhenbin
On May 5th, the 135th Canton Fair came to an end in Guangzhou. Since mid-April, this grand event, known as "the first exhibition in China", has become the focus of global trade.
Even though the squall line has repeatedly hit Guangdong, and there have been heavy rains for several days, the 135th Canton Fair has written a new chapter as a trading power as scheduled, which has become a portrayal of China’s foreign trade resilience.
In the first quarter of this year, the import and export scale of China exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time in the same period, and the growth rate reached a new high in six quarters. Although today’s global trade development is still affected by multiple factors, the vast number of foreign trade enterprises in China still bite the bullet and take the initiative, which is not only reflected in the foreign trade data in the first quarter, but also evident from the "report card" of the 135th Canton Fair: the number of overseas buyers attending the meeting reached a record high. As of May 4 (the same below), a total of 246,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries and regions participated offline, an increase of 24.5% over the previous session, setting a new record. Off-line export turnover was 24.7 billion US dollars, up by 10.7% over the previous session; A total of 160,000 buyers from the "Belt and Road" countries were built, an increase of 25.1%; The transaction volume of countries building the "Belt and Road" was US$ 13.86 billion, an increase of 13% over the previous session.
246,000 overseas buyers swept the goods on site.
Old friends traveled across the ocean for appointments, and new exhibitors made friends and met each other late. This is what happens at the Canton Fair every year.
The data shows that there are 246,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries and regions attending the Canton Fair offline, an increase of 24.5% over the previous session. Among them, 160,000 buyers from the "Belt and Road" countries were jointly built, an increase of 25.1%; There were 61,000 buyers from RCEP member countries, an increase of 25.5%; There were 52,000 buyers in BRICS countries, an increase of 27.6%; There were 50,000 European and American buyers, an increase of 10.7%.
The fate of Daphne, a buyer from Verlin Trading B.V, the Netherlands, and the Canton Fair can be traced back to the previous generation. She told all media reporters of Yangcheng Evening News that since her father, they have been purchasing glass, flowers and plants in the Canton Fair, witnessing the Canton Fair moving from Liuhua Pavilion to Pazhou, and witnessing the transformation and upgrading of China manufacturing.
"The goods in the Canton Fair cover all grades and prices, and they are very cost-effective. We have long-term cooperation with customers from Fujian and Guangdong, and we have also met new suppliers in this Canton Fair. " At this Canton Fair, Daphne and her husband purchased a batch of new products, and they hurried back to Holland, full of expectations.
According to Zhou Shanqing, director of the Press Center of the Canton Fair and deputy director of China Foreign Trade Center, 119 industrial and commercial organizations, including the China-US General Chamber of Commerce, 48 British group clubs, the Canada-China Business Council, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce in Turkey, the Malaysian China General Chamber of Commerce, and the Victorian Construction Association of Australia, attended the Canton Fair. 226 multinational head enterprises, including Wal-Mart, Auchan, Tesco, Metro, IKEA, koppel and Bird, organized buyers to attend the meeting. These overseas buyers spoke highly of the Canton Fair, believing that China has the best supply chain and the Canton Fair is the best platform for its one-stop procurement.
Offline export turnover was $24.7 billion.
Buyers’ "shopping carts" are full, and many exhibitors have also gained new customers and new orders. On the 5th, Zhuang Huang, the sales director of Shantou Feilite Aircraft Model Industry Co., Ltd., which specializes in consumer drones and drone toys, was helping customers draw up contracts at the Canton Fair. Zhuang Huang told reporters that their quadcopter toy, UFO, has attracted the attention of many overseas buyers. When UFO took off, the booth was once surrounded by overseas buyers.
"Many buyers want us to send samples in the past, and buyers place orders on the spot, which is very rare." Zhuang Huang said.
The reporter also learned from relevant people in the toy industry that, generally speaking, the main purpose of toy industry merchants participating in the Canton Fair is to expand customers, and few people will place orders on the spot. Generally, customers in Southeast Asia and the Middle East will place orders within three months. If they are customers in Europe and America, the decision-making cycle may exceed half a year.
Enterprises use technology and innovation to sow seeds, plant products and services with insight into market demand, and in this spring, they tasted the joy of harvesting ten thousand grains in autumn.
As of the 4th, the offline export turnover of this Canton Fair was US$ 24.7 billion, an increase of 10.7% over the previous session. Businessmen from emerging markets made active transactions, with a turnover of US$ 13.86 billion with countries that jointly built the Belt and Road Initiative, an increase of 13% over the previous session. European and American traditional markets have high per capita customer price. Online platform transactions became more and more active, with export transactions of 3.03 billion US dollars, an increase of 33.1% over the previous session.
Many exhibitors said that in addition to on-site signing, buyers have made follow-up appointments to visit factories and see production capacity, and it is expected to reach more cooperation in the future.
New quality productivity reflects the new pattern of foreign trade
New quality productivity is a key word of this Canton Fair.
From traditional manufacturing products to today’s intelligent solutions, today’s Canton Fair is also a grand event of innovation and technology. In the first phase of the 135th Canton Fair, many consumer electronics companies brought the latest products and technologies, and buyers from all over the world flocked to China, and "Manufacturing Group" and "International Buyers Group" went in both directions.
According to the data of the Canton Fair, the exhibitors of this year’s Canton Fair exhibited more than 1 million new products on the spot and held 334 first-time exhibitions of new products. Enterprises have uploaded more than 2.54 million exhibits on the online platform, including 660,000 new products, 100,000 smart products, 400,000 green and low-carbon products and 210,000 independent intellectual property products. At the Canton Fair, new products, new technologies, new materials, new processes and new ideas emerged in an endless stream, and more high-end, intelligent, green and low-carbon products, which reflected the development achievements of new quality productivity, emerged, and were warmly welcomed and favored by the international market, demonstrating the hard power of "China Zhizao" and injecting new vitality into the development of foreign trade.
"At this Canton Fair, we saw high-tech products such as window cleaning robots and serving robots. Many intelligent products are unheard of in our country." As an "old guangjiao" who has participated in the Canton Fair for more than ten or twenty years, Vahagn Kotanjyan from Armenia comes to the Canton Fair to make purchases every year. His company is one of the largest trading companies in Armenia, which sells cross-category products in its country.
Vahagn Kotanjyan told reporters that brands such as Midea and Oaks are household names in his country now, and many such "China brands" were brought back from the Canton Fair. He told reporters that this time, he also excavated many new products, and he believed that these products would be an instant hit when they were shipped to Armenia.
In addition to export, the import exhibition has also opened up new space for overseas enterprises. A total of 680 companies from 50 countries and regions participated in the import exhibition of the Canton Fair, of which 64% were exhibitors from countries that jointly built the Belt and Road Initiative. Important exhibition groups frequently reported good news and returned home with full loads. Korean, Japanese, Malaysian and other exhibition group exhibitors signed several orders with China enterprises on the spot.
Emergency plan helps merchants negotiate orders with peace of mind.
The exhibition hall of the Canton Fair is very hot, and the online platform of the Canton Fair is also full of guests.
John from Canada told reporters that he has participated in the online platform of the Canton Fair for three consecutive years. This year is his first time to participate in the offline Canton Fair, and the online and offline services are as "silky".
It is reported that there are 408,000 overseas buyers attending the Canton Fair online, from 229 countries and regions around the world. The total number of visits to exhibitors’ shops was 3.412 million, including 3.376 million for export exhibitions and 36,000 for import exhibitions. Exhibitors have accumulated 1291 online exhibitions, with a total of 17200 people watching. The online platform of this year’s Canton Fair has increased digital technologies such as online display, VR factory viewing, 3D photography and intelligent drainage, and the number of buyers who have responded to inquiries from enterprises has increased significantly.
At the same time, this year’s Canton Fair strives to build a multi-functional comprehensive platform integrating trade docking, information exchange, design innovation and trade service. 264 "Trade Bridge" Canton Fair global promotion and supply-demand docking activities were held, among which 249 supply-demand docking activities attracted 420 buyers and 1,420 suppliers for "one-on-one" docking negotiations, and the intended purchase amount exceeded 340 million US dollars.
The exhibition service guarantee has also been affirmed by all parties. This year’s Canton Fair will implement 100% green cloth removal, 100% use green electricity, and carry out three national standards such as green booth, venue safety and exhibition operation through multiple channels to promote the transformation of green development achievements. This year’s Canton Fair has handled 707,000 permits, with 3.08 million visitors, 1.93 million visitors, 45,000 vehicles, 1.13 million meals and 74,000 booths.
Faced with the severe challenges brought by extreme weather such as continuous heavy rainfall and super-large-scale people flow, logistics and car flow, under the leadership of the Ministry of Commerce and Guangdong Province, with the strong support of Guangzhou and other relevant parties, the Canton Fair quickly launched an emergency plan, strengthened the support force, extended the exhibition time, added rain-proof facilities, accelerated the security inspection at the museum, and launched a series of humanized services. The overall service was safe and orderly, which was affirmed by exhibitors all over the world, saying that it "felt the warmth of home at the Canton Fair".