136th Canton Fair to gather over 30,000 enterprises offline

BEIJING - Over 30,000 enterprises from home and abroad will be in physical attendance at the 136th session of the China Import and Export Fair, popularly known as the Canton Fair, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

The fair will be held in Guangzhou in three phases between Oct 15 and Nov 4, and is set to include 55 exhibition areas covering 1.55 million square meters.

Approximately 390,000 digital and smart products will be showcased at this session, skyrocketing 300 percent from the 135th Canton Fair, and the number of green and low carbon products will be up 130 percent from the previous session, according to ministry official Xiao Lu.

As of Wednesday, about 125,000 overseas buyers from 203 countries and regions have expressed their willingness to attend the 136th fair.

A record high of over 750 trade promotion activities will be held this session, alongside approximately 400 activities to launch new products, with that number up by over 30 percent from the previous fair.

The functions of the online platform for the 136th Canton Fair have been optimized further, the ministry said, noting that 48,000 enterprises have uploaded 3.75 million products to the platform, with both of those figures reaching historic highs.

Launched in 1957 and held twice yearly, the Canton Fair is considered a major gauge of China's foreign trade.