Canton Fair celebrates 60th anniversary, gradually mature as an international industrial exchange platform

GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The 120^th Canton Fair, officially opened the fall exhibition on October 15 in Guangzhou, celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Since its first launch in 1957, the Canton Fair had adopted a face-to-face product inspection and negotiation trade mode and has been a leader in promoting China's exchange and communication with the international market ever since.

As of now, the Canton Fair has transformed from a small export commodities fair to a world class comprehensive industrial exchange platform, with the longest history, highest level, largest scale and largest number of products as well as the broadest distribution of buyer origins and the highest business turnover in China, witnessing the changes and development of many trade industries worldwide with the 120^th Canton Fair featuring nearly 25,000 participating exhibitors.

Li Huan, chairman of Nam Pak Hong Association, managing director of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and president and general manager of Hong Kong Yuen Tai Trading Co., Ltd who had been participating in the Fair for 60 years, noted that the Fair has been assisting companies overseas to find excellent dealers in mainland China so that they could enter Chinese market successfully.

Since 1994, the Canton Fair has been dividing the exhibition sectors in accordance with the product category and has set up different phases for various industries and developed a model that combines comprehensive with specialized exhibition since 2002.

To lower trade barriers among countries, the "online Canton Fair" has been hosted from 2003. In 2007, Canton Fair set up the International Pavilion for the first time. As of the spring of 2016, the Fair has become a highly efficient trading platform for ex-China companies to explore the Chinese market as well as the Chinese companies to purchase products from international brands.

Now, the 120^th Canton Fair has received 185,704 buyers from 213 countries and regions, including India, the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, Indonesia, Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and more.

Madan Kapahi, CEO of Emporium from Canada, has been coming to Canton Fair since the 1960s and has found a wide range of suppliers to further expand the company scale, while Mr. Dijkstra, president of Koopman International, Netherlands, who has brought 26 buyers to this year's fair, was impressed by the rewarding experience.

Having more diversified export channels and trading methods, the Canton Fair has transformed to an integrated platform where exhibitors and buyers can meet new clients, exhibit new products, negotiate deals, share insights in the industries, release information and promote new products.

"The Canton Fair is not only constantly expanding the exhibition but also providing matching conferences, forums and presenting various awards, to meet such growing and needs from the companies and buyers of all industries," said Liu Quandong, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Canton Fair, "We believe our role as an international industrial exchange platform will also be more prominent in the future."