The 137th Canton Fair Will Be Held From April 15 To May 5
Apr 11, 2025
On April 9, the Ministry of Commerce held a special press conference to introduce the 137th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair).
This Canton Fair will be held in Guangzhou in three phases from April 15 to May 5, with a total exhibition area of 1.55 million square meters, a total number of booths of approximately 74,000, and approximately 31,000 exhibitors. Among them, the number of booths for the export exhibition was nearly 73,000, and the number of exhibitors exceeded 30,000 for the first time, an increase of nearly 900 from the previous session. The number of booths at the import exhibition is about 1600, and 736 companies from 50 countries and regions participated in the exhibition, which is basically the same as the previous session.
The reporter learned from the press conference that as of April 8, nearly 170,000 overseas buyers had pre-registered. Among them, countries co-constructing the Belt and Road Initiative account for 72%, BRICS countries account for 27.4%, OECD member countries account for 15.4%, RCEP member countries account for 11.7%, Middle Eastern countries account for 14.3%, and European and American countries account for 10.5%.
More than 4200 new companies participated in the exhibition, and the first service robot zone was set up.
The reporter learned from the press conference that there were more than 4200 new companies participating in the exhibition this year. There are more than 9700 companies with titles such as national high-tech, specialized and innovative little giants, and individual manufacturing champions, an increase of 20% over the previous session. There are about 3700 companies related to the "Three New Things", digital technology, and intelligent manufacturing, more than 17000 companies with their own brands, and nearly 22000 companies have passed various internationally accepted certifications.
Zhang Sihong, deputy director of the China Foreign Trade Center, said that for the first time, this Canton Fair has added a service robot special area in the first phase to showcase the latest achievements in the development of artificial intelligence in my country. For the first time, a new integrated housing area has been established, and special areas on topics related to multiple emerging industries such as smart life, smart logistics and warehousing equipment, digital factories and smart manufacturing production lines, wind energy, hydrogen energy and other new energy products, and smart travel-related technology products will continue to be established.
"The service robot zone attracts 46 industry-representative companies to participate in the exhibition, and will bring various types of products including embodied robots, commercial service robots, educational and entertainment robots, etc., focusing on displaying the latest development results of my country's service robots and upstream and downstream industrial chain situation." Xiao Lu, deputy director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said.
This Canton Fair will help cultivate new driving forces for foreign trade, with outstanding green, intelligent and digital highlights. According to pre-exhibition research, 56% of the exhibitors in this Canton Fair have patents such as design, utility models, inventions, etc. in the green and low-carbon field;63.5% have passed domestic and foreign green and low-carbon certifications. 880,000 green and low-carbon products will be displayed at the Canton Fair, and more than 1000 trade promotion activities including green and low-carbon themes will be held, an increase of more than 250 from the previous session.
In recent years, intelligent products have not only become a new highlight in foreign trade growth, but also a new driving force for enterprises to strive for transformation. The Canton Fair actively follows this trend and strongly supports relevant companies and products to participate in the exhibition. According to statistics, the number of exhibitors in the intelligence-related exhibition areas and special areas of this Canton Fair exceeded 1100, and 320,000 smart products were displayed on site.
"Digitalization" has become the driving force for innovation. Among the exhibitors, 58.8% used technical tools such as big data, artificial intelligence, and industrial Internet to transform and upgrade relevant links in the industrial and supply chains; more than 60% obtained foreign trade orders through digital means. This Canton Fair integrated and optimized the trade service exhibition area, attracting more than 30 digital service providers, including cross-border e-commerce payment, logistics, marketing, etc., to participate in the exhibition, facilitating docking cooperation and digital transformation of foreign trade companies.
The participation of large business groups increased by 9.9% year-on-year, and more than a thousand trade promotion activities will be held.
Looking back at the last Canton Fair, overseas buyers exceeded the 250,000 mark for the first time, a record high. Zhang Sihong introduced that this Canton Fair focuses on key markets, enriches investment promotion methods, improves the accuracy and professionalism of investment promotion, and strives to win more high-quality overseas buyers to attend the meeting. "At present, judging from indicators such as pre-registrations of overseas buyers, hotel bookings and flight booking rates, it is expected that the number of overseas buyers attending the 137th Canton Fair will continue to maintain a steady and improved quality trend."
It is noteworthy that this year's Canton Fair's major business continues to grow. Zhang Sihong introduced that 223 of the top 250 global retailers and major merchants from various countries and regions have confirmed that they will participate in the conference, an increase of 9.9% over the same period last year. Leading companies such as Wal-Mart and Target in the United States, Carrefour and Anda House in France have confirmed their participation.
In order to better meet the needs of exhibitors, this Canton Fair will hold more than 1000 trade promotion activities. Including: 18 industry conference activities, about 400 new product launch activities, more than 590 "Trade Bridge" trade promotion series activities, 20 "Hao Bao Hao Ni Explore Guangzhou Friendship" activities, etc.
In addition, this Canton Fair has stepped up and upgraded service measures in terms of accreditation, transportation, catering and other aspects. "Check-in offices for overseas buyers have been set up at 69 hotels in the exhibition hall, Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou South Railway Station, Pazhou Hong Kong and Macao Port and urban Guangzhou. A total of 365 accreditation teams have been configured, 33 more than the previous session." Zhang Sihong said,"It is worth mentioning that 100 self-service certification terminals have been put into the Canton Fair for the first time, further improving the efficiency of certification certification."
In order to improve traffic efficiency, this Canton Fair has set up 35 security inspection verification gate areas and equipped with 124 verification machines to speed up entry to the museum during peak hours. At the central overpass connecting the exhibition hall in Zone C and exhibition halls in Zones A and B, the museum introduces a double-head connecting battery car with a large passenger capacity, which greatly facilitates the cross-regional traffic of exhibitors from north to south.
In terms of catering services, the number of dining spots in the Canton Fair has increased to 78, supporting scanning orders and delivery throughout the museum; there are 14,000 dining seats, with a maximum daily meal supply of about 100,000; the number of dishes has increased to 280, Chinese, Western, halal meals, etc. are available;28 convenience stores, 25 fully automatic coffee machines, and 86 vending machines are located throughout the museum.
"Guangzhou-style services" have been upgraded to welcome global merchants to join the open appointment.
As the "host" of the Canton Fair, Guangzhou is comprehensively improving the city's service level, allowing global exhibition merchants to enjoy the temperature and efficiency of "Guangzhou-style services".
Wei Min, Party Secretary and Director of the Guangzhou City Bureau of Commerce, introduced at the press conference that Guangzhou is welcoming global exhibitors with a newly upgraded "3E" urban service system, namely Efficient Biz (Efficient Commerce), Easy Go (Convenient Travel), and Enjoy Life (Happy Life).
In terms of efficient business, five major ports, including Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Pazhou Hong Kong and Macao Passenger Terminal, and Nansha Passenger Port, are the first stops for global merchants to arrive in Guangzhou. They have set up convenient guest channels for the Canton Fair to further strengthen multilingual passenger customs clearance guidelines. In response to cross-border freight demand, Guangzhou Customs has innovated the customs clearance model of airports and sea (river) ports. Guangzhou Customs has prepared to introduce measures such as resident services, one-stop Internet access, and simplifying supervision procedures to facilitate the exhibition of food, cosmetics, animal and plant products, to make every effort to ensure convenient customs clearance of exhibits.
In terms of convenient travel, during the Canton Fair, Guangzhou will increase public transportation capacity and increase the frequency of public transportation and subway around the Canton Fair Exhibition Hall. The newly opened Guangzhou Metro Line 11 runs through the city and has 26 transfer stations, making it convenient for passengers to quickly travel from the city. Direct to the exhibition hall. In order to meet the personalized travel needs of merchants, no less than 2000 taxis and online ride-hailing vehicles are arranged around the exhibition hall every day, and 20,000 parking spaces are provided. Self-driving personnel can use the "Guangzhou Parking" Mini programs and the "Xingxun" APP. Check basic information of the parking lot. In view of the convenience of travel for foreigners, the 960169 toll-free hotline can provide real-time language service guarantee for overseas merchants from the Canton Fair.
In terms of enjoyable life, Guangzhou has specially produced manuals such as "Business Travel Service Guidelines","Work and Life Guidelines" and "Payment Service Guidelines", and simultaneously launched "One-Stop" Mini programs on WeChat and Alipay to provide one-stop guidance for food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment.
"'Guangzhou Intersection·Good Acquisition of Guangzhou 'is the most important scene among the' Eight New Scenes of Consumption in Yangcheng'." Wei Min said that during the Canton Fair, Guangzhou will also launch more than 300 "Canton Fair +" series of activities, allowing nearly one million people at home and abroad from more than 200 countries and regions around the world to immersively experience the charm of "Canton Life" while negotiating and cooperating., experience a rich journey to diverse cities.
This Canton Fair will hold the first urban food and cultural event in the history of the Canton Fair-the "Eating in Guangzhou Carnival" Music and Food Festival in the exhibition hall. The time will run through the third phase of the Canton Fair, bringing together handmade snacks, Guangfu intangible cultural heritage, and national trend tours, allowing the vast number of merchants who cannot leave the museum can experience the food culture of "combining north and south flavors, and famous Chinese and Western delicacies" in a one-stop manner. The second batch of "freshly baked" Guangzhou "must-buy, must-bring" city gifts will also be unveiled in the museum, where time-honored Guangzhou brands carrying the city's memories and technological treasures sought after by trendy people will gather together.
Outside the exhibition hall, more than 70 trade docking activities will be organized, and merchants will be invited to visit more than 500 wholesale markets and product belts in Guangzhou to enjoy textile cloud garments, visit leather goods workshops, visit beauty world, and touch the innovation pulse of Guangzhou's smart manufacturing. Guangzhou will also continue to launch "Eat in Guangzhou" consumption coupons, and key business districts across the city, the "young City yeah City" pioneer area, and commercial enterprises will launch exclusive shopping, catering and other discounts and privileges for Canton Fair merchants.
Source: Nanfang Daily
