The 137th Canton Fair Opens, with the "New Three Categories" of Foreign Trade Enterprises Taking the Lead
On April 15th, the 137th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) opened in Guangzhou. The total exhibition area of this session of the Canton Fair is 1.55 million square meters, with approximately 74,000 booths in total, and about 31,000 enterprises participating in the exhibition. Among them, there are nearly 73,000 booths in the export exhibition, and the number of enterprises participating in the export exhibition has exceeded 30,000 for the first time, an increase of nearly 900 compared to the previous session. There are about 1,600 booths in the import exhibition, and 736 enterprises from 50 countries and regions are participating.
This session of the Canton Fair will be held in three phases from April 15th to May 5th, with the themes of "Advanced Manufacturing", "High-quality Home Furnishings", and "Better Life" respectively. A total of 55 exhibition areas and 172 product zones will be set up. The online platform service time of the Canton Fair is half a year (from March 16th, 2025, to September 15th, 2025), and the display themes on the online platform are consistent with those of the offline exhibition, with all themes displayed simultaneously.
Xiao Lu, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, said at the press conference on the 14th that the Canton Fair is China's longest-running, largest-scale, most comprehensive in terms of commodities, with the largest number and widest source of purchasers, achieving the best transaction results, and enjoying the best reputation in the comprehensive international trade fair, and is known as China's No.1 Exhibition.
According to the introduction, this session of the Canton Fair has the following characteristics:
- Wider exhibition themes: For the first time, a service robot zone has been added in the first phase, focusing on showcasing the latest achievements in China's artificial intelligence development. A prefabricated house zone has been newly set up for the first time, and multiple zones related to emerging industries such as smart life, smart logistics and warehousing equipment, digital factory and intelligent manufacturing production line, wind energy, hydrogen energy and other new energy products, and smart mobility-related technical products have been continued.
- Higher quality of exhibitors: In this session of the Canton Fair, the "Measures for Improving the Quality of Enterprises Participating in the Canton Fair" has been newly introduced, with 10 measures launched to provide more opportunities for high-quality enterprises to participate in the exhibition. There are more than 4,200 newly participating enterprises in this session. There are more than 9,700 enterprises with titles such as national high-tech enterprises, specialized and sophisticated "little giant" enterprises, and single champion enterprises in manufacturing, an increase of 20% compared to the previous session. There are about 3,700 enterprises related to the "New Three Categories", digital technology, and intelligent manufacturing. There are more than 17,000 enterprises with independent brands, and nearly 22,000 enterprises have passed various international compliance certifications.
- Greater investment promotion efforts: This session of the Canton Fair focuses on key markets such as the Belt and Road Initiative, RCEP, and Europe and the United States. Through various forms and channels such as holding promotion activities globally, deepening cooperation with all parties, and organizing advertising and new media marketing, it makes efforts to achieve a higher level of diversification of the sources of purchasers, and helps enterprises expand the international market. At the same time, it invites the top 250 global retailers and leading large merchants in the industry in a targeted manner to optimize the structure and quality of overseas purchasers attending the fair.
- Better online platform: The Canton Fair APP, as an important carrier of the online platform, is a good assistant for offline participation and a good tool for online matching. Since its launch, it has been widely welcomed, with a download volume of 148,000 times. In this session, two versions of the APP for purchasers and suppliers have been upgraded and launched, with more precise services and further optimized functions. The service package standards and contents of the online platform have also been optimized, the "Trade Matching" system has been reconstructed, and the supply and procurement matching process has been optimized to improve matching efficiency and accuracy.
- More trade promotion activities: In order to better meet the needs of exhibitors and purchasers in this session of the Canton Fair, more than 1,000 trade promotion activities will be held. These include: 18 industry conference activities, about 400 new product launch activities, more than 590 "Bridge of Trade" trade promotion series activities, 20 "Haobao and Haoni Explore the Canton Fair" activities, etc.
Green, Intelligent, and Digital Become the Key Words
Xiao Lu said that as an important platform for China's foreign trade and an important window for opening up to the outside world, the Canton Fair has been actively contributing to stabilizing and improving the quantity and quality of foreign trade and promoting high-quality development. This session of the Canton Fair focuses on aspects such as greening, intelligence, and digitalization, and there are three highlights in helping to cultivate new driving forces for foreign trade.
Firstly, "greening" has become a distinct feature. According to the pre-exhibition survey, among the enterprises participating in this session of the Canton Fair, 56% of the enterprises have patents in appearance design, utility model, and invention in the field of green and low-carbon. Among the exhibited products, there are 1.22 million green and low-carbon products, and there are more than 2,600 enterprises in related themes such as new energy and energy conservation and environmental protection.
Secondly, "intelligence" has become a dazzling label. According to statistics, there are more than 1,100 enterprises participating in the intelligent-related exhibition areas and zones in this session of the Canton Fair, and 320,000 intelligent products are displayed on-site. The newly set up service robot zone will centrally showcase the latest achievements in China's artificial intelligence development, attracting 46 representative enterprises in the industry to participate, bringing various types of products including embodied robots, commercial service robots, and educational and entertainment robots.
Thirdly, "digitalization" has become an innovative driving force. From the perspective of participating enterprises, 58.8% of them use technical tools such as big data, artificial intelligence, and industrial Internet to transform and upgrade relevant links in the industrial chain and supply chain, and more than 60% of the enterprises obtain foreign trade orders through digital means. From the perspective of platform functions, the service package standards and contents of the online platform have been optimized, the "Trade Matching" system has been reconstructed, and the supply and procurement matching process has been optimized to improve matching efficiency and accuracy.
The "New Three Categories" of Foreign Trade Enterprises Take the Lead
At the opening site on the 15th, reporters from National Business Daily noticed that new energy, electric vehicles, and intelligent products have become the "main characters" of the participating enterprises.
At the booth of Ninebot Limited, the company displayed the latest electric motorcycles, self-balancing scooters and other products, and many foreign purchasers consulted and experienced on-site. A purchaser from Europe told reporters that they are very interested in China's electric vehicle products, and they came to the Canton Fair this time to find suitable suppliers and introduce some new products to the European market.
In the exhibition area of photovoltaic energy enterprises, many enterprises displayed high-efficiency solar panels, energy storage devices and other products. Zhou Chengjun, Domestic Market Director of Zhejiang Chint New Energy Development Co., Ltd., told reporters from National Business Daily that the company's overseas orders have doubled in growth in the first quarter of this year, and currently the company's production capacity has been scheduled until the second half of the year. "We have brought the latest photovoltaic products this time. These products have been greatly improved in conversion efficiency and stability. We hope to further expand the overseas market through the Canton Fair."
Also at the site of the Canton Fair, reporters noticed that Chinese intelligent drone enterprises represented by DJI have also attracted the attention of a large number of purchasers. At the DJI booth, there was an endless stream of purchasers consulting and experiencing drone products. A purchaser from the Middle East region told reporters that drones are increasingly widely used in agriculture, surveying and mapping, security and other fields in the Middle East. They highly recognize the product quality and technical strength of DJI, and they came this time hoping to further negotiate cooperation with DJI and expand the procurement scale.
Pang Chaoran, Deputy Researcher of the Institute of Foreign Trade of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters from National Business Daily that the competitiveness of China's "New Three Categories" products in the international market has been continuously improving, mainly due to several reasons. Firstly, China's investment in technology research and development in related fields has continued to increase, and its technological innovation ability has been continuously enhanced, and the performance and quality of products have been greatly improved. Secondly, China has a complete industrial chain and supply chain system, which can achieve large-scale production, reduce costs, and have an advantage in price. In addition, with the continuous strengthening of the global trends of green development and digital development, the "New Three Categories" products meet the market demand, and the market space is constantly expanding.
Pang Chaoran also mentioned that the Canton Fair provides a very good platform for Chinese enterprises to display the "New Three Categories" products. Through the Canton Fair, Chinese enterprises can directly connect with global purchasers, understand the international market demand, display the product advantages, and expand the overseas market. At the same time, the Canton Fair also promotes the communication and cooperation between domestic and foreign enterprises, and promotes the continuous upgrading and development of China's "New Three Categories" industry.
