Foreign buyers inspect products at Turkish cooker brand Ferre at the 133rd session of the Canton Fair, held in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, on April 16, 2023. Photo: Chi Jingyi/GT

Many global exhibitors have found that they can expand not only in the Chinese market, which was their reason for participating in the Canton Fair, but also to the world at the ongoing trade event, which runs from Saturday to May 5.

"In addition to buyers from China and developed markets such as Europe, America and Australia, which are our main markets, there are many buyers from other places such as Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Malaysia who came to our booth," Zhang Shuotong, director of the overseas sales center at Smardt Chiller Group, a Canadian supplier of oil-free compressors, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Smardt has set up production bases in South China's Guangzhou and East China's Nanjing.

Just like Smardt, world companies now use the Canton Fair as a platform to promote their products to customers from all over the world. This shows that the attraction of the fair has scaled new heights. 

The exhibition area for imports has reached 30,000 square meters during the 133rd session of the Canton Fair, the largest ever and up 50 percent from 2019, according to statistics from the fair organizer.

A total of 508 global enterprises from 40 countries and regions are showing their products at the exhibition. Of the total, countries and regions that are involved in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative account for 73 percent.

"The Canton Fair is more and more open, and that's the reason we are participating," Zhang Yan, deputy general manager of Fagor Professional, a Spanish cooking pot manufacturer, told the Global Times.

This is the second time for Fagor to participate. The first time was in October 2021, when the Canton Fair partly resumed on-site exhibitions.

"We want to expand our markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan, apart from the Chinese mainland. We hope to recruit dealers in Hong Kong and Taiwan through the Canton Fair," said Zhang.

The Global Times later observed home appliance buyers from Hong Kong who came to inquire about Fagor's products.

A salesperson at Turkish kitchen appliance brand Ferre told the Global Times that the company has been attending the fair for more than 10 years.

"We are now exporting to over 140 countries. The Canton Fair platform has helped us get orders," said the salesperson.

Buyers from all over the world were seen visiting Ferre's booth and asking about its products.

So far, buyers from 226 countries and regions have registered to participate in the fair on-site or online. About 67,000 foreign exhibitors and buyers visited the 133rd session of the Canton Fair, or China Import and Export Fair, on Saturday, the first day. 

About 660,000 visitors were on-site during the first two days, data from the organizer showed. 

"We brought German brand Berndes, Italian brand Alluflon and Moneta to the Canton Fair as their agents, hoping to introduce high-end cookware brands from Europe into China and seek more distributors," Lin Haijun, product director of Aishida Co (ASD), told the Global Times.

This is ASD's first participation in the fair. Felipe from Argentina was one of the buyers who visited ASD's booth.

"I came to the Canton Fair mainly to purchase kitchen appliances. It is very efficient for buyers to have all the home appliance brands in one big exhibition area. I can compare global brands at the same time. This time, many companies displayed their most advanced and innovative products," Felipe told the Global Times.

Joe, a buyer from Kenya, told the Global Times that the fair provides a platform for global traders to communicate. He revealed that about 70 Kenyan buyers from his commerce chamber came to this session.

According to Joan Basagana, president of Taurus Group, a Spanish home appliance company, the fair "has been playing a very important role in promoting trade cooperation between China and Spain and also all of our related markets in the world." 

She noted that Taurus has attended each fair in the past 20 years.

"From long ago, the Canton Fair was recognized as an important place for us to meet our global customers," said Khaled Ramzy, director of exports at Egyptian home appliance company Fresh, which has attended every session of the fair since 2007.

For the past three years, Fresh has been communicating with customers around the world through a cloud-based service provided by the Canton Fair's website, according to Ramzy.