China's biannual trade show, the China Import and Export Fair, commonly known as the Canton Fair, is up and running despite coronavirus flare-ups, with the latest session that beginning on April 15 going online-only with a record 2.9 million-plus products on show. The 131st session, a 10-day event running until April 24, has attracted about 25,500 domestic and overseas exhibitors, the event organizer said. Among the 402 overseas firms from 32 countries and regions are U.S.-based industrial conglomerate Honeywell, a Fortune 500 company, Germany-based Wedo Tools, and Japanese home appliance maker Sezze. Attending firms have uploaded more than 2.9 million items, including more than 900,000 new products and more than 480,000 green and low-carbon exhibits, all hitting all-time highs.
The show has made continued headway in forging global partnerships, having signed cooperation agreements with 14 industrial and commercial agencies from Vietnam, Laos, Kuwait and Iraq, among other countries and regions along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Xu Bing, Spokesperson of the Canton Fair and Deputy Director General of the China Foreign Trade Center, told a press conference. The Canton Fair's global partners are set to hit 170, an indication of its expanded circle of foreign trade friends, according to Xu. The online event fits into the digital economy's development, and it is also a pragmatic choice responding to the virus' fallout, Shu Jueting, Spokesperson with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), said.
Holding the Canton Fair online breaks time and space limits, and it enables exhibitions and negotiations to go on 24 hours non-stop, Shu said, allowing purchasers and exhibitors to stay indoors while buying and selling globally. The online platform for the 131st session is more interactive, with authorized exhibitors being able to browse buyers' information, send business cards and start instant chats, according to Shu.
“The trade show has also introduced new services such as China-Europe freight trains, seaborne shipping and cross-border e-commerce, and overseas warehouses, among other new business models, to help businesses in improving trade services,” the MOFCOM Spokesperson said. The Canton Fair went online for the first time for its 127th session in 2020 and remained online only for the next two sessions, before being held simultaneously in-person and online for the first time in its 130th session. The event's 130th session concluded in October 2021, with 600,000 visits in person and 27.92 million online, the Global Times reports.
Despite rosy trade figures in the first quarter, China has to work hard this year to ensure foreign trade growth and improve its trade structure, due mainly to increased uncertainties both at home and abroad, industry experts said. First quarter export growth beat expectations, but the impact of the epidemic may continue to squeeze exporters and could pressure overall foreign trade performance in the first half of 2022, they said. The General Administration of Customs (GAC) said that China’s exports of goods in March surged by 12.9% year-on-year to more than CNY1.75 trillion.
Foreign trade hit around CNY3.2 trillion in the month, increasing 5.8% from a year earlier, while imports dipped by 1.7% to about CNY1.45 trillion. The foreign trade in goods reached CNY9.42 trillion over the January-March period, up 10.7% year-on-year. Exports grew by 13.4% on a yearly basis to CNY5.23 trillion, while imports increased by 7.5% to CNY4.19 trillion.
Analysts predict the nation’s foreign trade will continue to expand in 2022, probably at a rate higher than gross domestic product (GDP) growth, thanks to the strong resilience of Chinese enterprises and effects of policy measures to ease the burden on companies and stabilize overall economic growth. The GAC said exports of major items such as mechanical and electrical products, solar cells, lithium batteries and motor vehicles all maintained an upward trend during the first quarter, the China Daily reports.
