The China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province on Sunday, where the Canton Fair takes place twice every year. This year, much of the fair is going virtual. Photo: VCG

Going digital for the first time, the twice-yearly China Import and Export Fair, known as the Canton Fair, has drawn a warm response from foreign customers eager to engage with Chinese suppliers despite COVID-19, which has ravaged global trade and many economies.

The Canton Fair, held every spring and fall in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, is widely seen as a barometer of China's foreign trade. 

More than 25,900 companies offering more than 1.8 million products and services will take part in this years' Canton Fair in a brand new digital platform. The event is scheduled to kick off on Monday and last till June 24.

The Canton Fair has seen a growing presence of countries and regions along the routes of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The average number of customers from BRI economies has reached 80,000. 

Cloud-based introduction events have been held with exhibitors from Russia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Jordan and Lebanon to help companies along the routes of the BRI to participate.

New Zealand-based businesses are seeking new opportunities that have been opening up in conjunction with the first-ever virtual Canton Fair. Martin Thomson, chairman of the New Zealand China Trade Association, said that although travel restrictions have disrupted the tourism and education industries, trade with China, especially in primary industries and e-commerce, has been bouncing back. He said that the virtual Canton Fair could bring new opportunities for bilateral economic activities, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Vladimir Dmitriev, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, said that the virtual fair will help restore international economic and trade exchanges and play an important role in trade cooperation between Russia and China. 

For Russian companies, participating in the Canton Fair is a good opportunity to keep pace with the latest products from China and other countries.

Wang Yu, a project manager at the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a lobby group based in Moscow, told the Global Times Sunday that the Russian companies it represents have maintained long-term cooperation with suppliers in China, and it was via the Canton Fair that the two sides initially got to know one another.

"The latest products are expected to be seen online," said Wang.

However, it's obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic has crimped consumer demand in Russia, along with the plunge in crude oil prices. "This fair is likely to achieve purchases that are about 70 percent of the previous level," Wang said.

"For Russia's high-tech industries, the Chinese market is quite an important one," Wang noted. The Russian Export Center has held talks with people in charge of the import exhibitions of the Canton Fair in a bid to expand sales of Russian food to China, he added.

This year's Canton Fair will maintain the import exhibitions. Enterprises along the routes of the BRI took up 72 percent with their products accounting for 83 percent, data from the Guangzhou government showed.

"Trade and economic exchanges between China and BRI countries and regions have been a highlight amid disruptions to global trade caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this can offer a new template," Hong Junjie, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Sunday.

China's foreign trade in the first quarter dropped 6.4 percent year-on-year, and bilateral trade with developed economies including the US and Europe sank over 10 percent. 

In comparison, trade between China and BRI economies grew 3.2 percent in the first three months, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

"The innovative initiative shows the determination that China has in continuing to open its market wider despite rising US trade protectionism and the impact on industry and supply chains caused by the coronavirus," said Hong.

The fair is not only a boost to the restoration of global trade, but also a highly anticipated opportunity for China's exporters.

Sally Wu, vice manager of the import and export department of Guangzhou Tiger Head Battery Group Co, told the Global Times Sunday that the company has invited its foreign clients to participate in the online fair.

"We anticipate a certain amount of transactions as there has been strong participation by foreign buyers," said Wu.


Newspaper headline: Foreign buyers flock to fair