Reporters of the South China Morning Post report a surprisingly strong return of foreign importers to the Canton Fair this year. Among the four halls in the giant exhibition center, the one featuring new energy vehicles (NEVs) and smart mobility has been the most crowded. The booths were full of buyers from various countries and territories, with almost every Chinese attendee wondering: why are there so many foreigners this year? Some exporters said the surge may be due to the need to restock and even to front-load inventories to cope with the risks of trade sanctions on Chinese products. More interestingly, some overseas attendees said that despite the reports in the West of the threats caused by China’s overcapacity in the new energy sector, they cannot resist the temptation to see how cheap and affordable the Chinese products are. “To buy or not to buy. I finally had first-hand experience of Chinese electric vehicles – so many brands and models, and they are not expensive. Very impressive,” said a foreign importer. “Previously, we had to wait for guests and we had to reach out to attendees proactively, but now they are waiting in queues for us,” said an exporter.
Last year the Canton Fair fully resumed on-site participation as China reopened its borders after three years of restrictive zero-Covid controls. The biannual event, which has been held every year since 1957, is widely seen as a barometer for China’s exports, while it also serves as a mirror of its progress in moving up the ladder of the industrial chain. Back in 2008, the fair provided 160,000 square meters of indoor exhibition space, with labor-intensive industries and low-end industrial products, including construction materials, electronics, furniture and textiles the main categories. Nowadays, the exhibition area has expanded to 1.55 million sq. m., featuring not only traditional manufacturing goods, but also increasingly advanced electronics, new energy vehicles and other green products.
Chinese exporters also said the number of buyers from Russia, the Middle East and South America have increased and they are willing to settle more transactions in yuan. A short video clip also went viral after a female American buyer filmed a BYD-branded electric vehicle priced at USD9,000. She was astonished at the incredibly low price of the car, which is banned in the United States. Wang Yunlong, Public Affairs Director of Chinese electric vehicle maker Aion, said the fair offered a great opportunity for more foreign merchants to see Chinese new energy vehicles up close. “The experience, coupled with price comparisons, is the most convincing,” said Wang.
On the other hand, manufacturers of traditional goods, such as home appliances, lamented that the number of European and American customers has continued to fall in recent years, while the purchasing power of new customers from emerging markets, like Russia, the Middle East and South America, still cannot make up for the loss of orders. “They still cannot afford those high-end lighting products for the Western markets,” said an LED lighting trader who focuses on Western markets. Organizers said around 198,000 overseas buyers attended the last session of the fair in November, up by 6.4% from the pre-pandemic session in the autumn of 2019. They signed export deals worth USD22.3 billion, representing a modest 2.8% rise from the spring session in April and May last year, but it still fell short of USD7 billion from the pre-Covid year in 2019, the South China Morning Post reports.
The first phase of the Canton Fair concluded on April 19 after attracting 125,000 overseas buyers from 212 countries and regions, an increase of 23.2% compared with the first phase of the previous fair in October, organizers said. Countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) accounted for 68.3% of overseas buyers, while those from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) accounted for 23%. The number of Chinese high-tech enterprises engaged in smart living, the “new three items” (new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and solar products) and industrial automation exhibiting their products in the Fair’s first phase was up by 24.4% compared with the first phase of October’s fair. With the theme “Quality Home Life”, the second phase of the air, covering an exhibition area of 515,000 sq. m., focuses on household items, gifts and decorations, and building materials and furniture, the China Daily reports.
