Long time no see, Canton Fair!

On the evening of April 14, the 133rd China Import and Export Fair and the 2nd Pearl River International Trade Forum opened in Guangzhou.

From April 15th to May 5th, the offline exhibition of the 133rd Canton Fair will be held in three phases.

This is the first Canton Fair held in the first year of fully implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It is the first time that the Canton Fair has fully resumed offline after the implementation of the "Class B and B Management" policy for epidemic prevention and control.

Reunited after a long absence on the banks of the Pearl River, thousands of merchants gathered in the Pazhou Complex.

As an important platform for China to open up to the outside world in an all-round way, promote the high-quality development of international trade, and connect domestic and international dual cycles, the Canton Fair has effectively promoted the vigorous development of China's import and export trade and promoted the exchanges and interactions between China and the world.

This is the largest Canton Fair in history, with an exhibition area of 1.5 million square meters and 35,000 exhibitors, the number of which has reached a record high. The Millennium City of Commerce has reappeared full of guests, making exhibitors and global merchants excited.

The Canton Fair is known as the "barometer" and "weather vane" of China's foreign trade. Its development history is a vivid portrayal of China's continuous expansion and opening up and the realization of domestic and international dual cycles.

As a major foreign trade city, Qingdao cannot be absent.

At this year's Canton Fair, there were more than 1,000 exhibitors in the Qingdao trading group, including 538 companies that participated in offline exhibitions. The exhibitors were distributed in 43 exhibition areas, covering 80% of the exhibition areas.

As an important engine for economic growth, foreign trade import and export will help enterprises make good use of global markets and resources. In the past three years, the Canton Fair has fully resumed its offline exhibition for the first time. Qingdao's foreign trade companies have not only met their expectations, but are also fully prepared to "go out" with new products and actively strive for global orders.

As far as the city is concerned, Qingdao has always regarded the Canton Fair as an important window to display the image of the city's industrial development and investment environment. While serving and guaranteeing exhibitors in Qingdao, it also fully relies on the platform advantages and open advantages of the Canton Fair to achieve connectivity with the world market and promote new developments in foreign economic and trade cooperation.

Make friends with customers from all over the world and enjoy global business opportunities

Zhushui rushes, thousands of merchants gather in Guangzhou, and the millennium business capital opens the "Canton Fair Moment".

Each of the three offline exhibitions will be held for 5 days. The first phase focuses on industrial themes, including 20 exhibition areas in 8 categories, including electronics and home appliances, machinery, building materials, and hardware tools; the second phase focuses on daily consumer goods, gifts and decorations, including 18 exhibition areas in 3 categories ; The third phase focuses on textiles, clothing, food, and medical insurance, including 16 exhibition areas in 5 categories.

From the perspective of the countries and regions of participating companies, there are both traditional European and American markets, as well as emerging markets such as the "Belt and Road Initiative". Up to now, buyers from 226 countries and regions have registered online and offline to participate in the conference, from five continents 47 industrial and commercial organizations from around the world will organize delegations to participate in the conference.

After 67 years of development, "Old Canton Fair" has witnessed China's "Road to Openness", and has been constantly advancing with the times and pioneering and innovating.

The opening of a new exhibition hall - Canton Fair Complex Area D was opened, the total exhibition area increased from 1.18 million square meters to 1.5 million square meters, and the number of booths increased from 60,000 to nearly 70,000.

Adding new themes - adding 3 new exhibition areas including industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, new energy and intelligent networked vehicles, maternity and infant products, and 3 new special areas including intelligent life, "silver hair economy", testing reagents and protective equipment. For the first time, an import exhibition will be set up in all three exhibition periods.

Hold new activities - during the current Canton Fair, the second Pearl River International Trade Forum will be held. It has been confirmed that there will be 5 main forums and 18 industry forums. More than 400 trade promotion activities will also be held at the same time to provide Chinese and foreign merchants with opportunities to discuss cooperation. More diverse platforms.

After three years of the epidemic, the reopening of the Canton Fair, which is fully held offline, is an excellent window to observe the resilience and advantages of China's foreign trade.

Introduce new enterprises - the number of offline exhibitors increased from 25,000 to nearly 35,000, more than 9,000 new exhibitors, and a total of about 5,700 high-quality and characteristic enterprises, the number hit a record high.

Debut of new products - more than 300 online and offline events for the first show of new products, and 3.05 million exhibits uploaded by enterprises online, including 800,000 new products.

This is the epitome of the recovery of China's foreign trade, the restoration of market confidence, and the accelerated bursting of new momentum. Keeping up with new trends and facing new needs, "Old Canton Fair" starts again with a brand new look.

Show the world "Made in Qingdao" and lead the world to share opportunities in Qingdao. Looking forward to an open Qingdao is self-evident.

At this year's Canton Fair, there were 1,005 exhibitors in the Qingdao trading group, with a total of 879 booths. Among them, there are 538 offline exhibitors, 467 online exhibitors, and 157 brand booths. Qingdao exhibitors are distributed in 43 exhibition areas including household appliances, building materials, auto parts, tools, gardens, kitchens, gifts, furniture, food, and home textiles.

Starting today, many foreign trade entrepreneurs in Qingdao will also rush to Guangzhou to "supervise the battle" on the front line.

Face-to-face communication to enhance the willingness to cooperate

In 2023, the beginning of the world economy and international trade is full of uncertainties. At this time, China's "firmness" became more prominent.

Political leaders and economic and trade delegations from many countries around the world visited China, the Boao Forum for Asia was successfully held, the "Invest in China Year" activities were in full swing, and the third Consumer Expo was successfully held...Since this year, China has opened its door wider and wider. The "seamless relay" of the 133rd Canton Fair continued to show the world China's confidence and determination to open up to the outside world.

Confidence in openness is effectively transmitted to the market. Thousands of enterprises in Qingdao are aiming at the Canton Fair, gearing up and actively preparing for the battle.

Since the first phase of the Canton Fair mainly focuses on industrial themes, smart home appliances, an advantageous industry in Qingdao, have attracted much attention.

"Three years later, the epidemic situation has been overcome, and the scale is even greater than before. The Canton Fair has become the best stage for many Chinese companies to go to the world." Zhang Qingfu, vice president of Haier Overseas Electrical Appliances Industry Co., Ltd., said that at this Canton Fair, Haier Smart Home exhibited industry A series of global brand creation achievements such as leading technology, high-end products, and smart scenarios have accelerated the implementation of the smart home strategy and continued to lead the global market.

"This year is the 30th year for Hisense to participate in the exhibition. We will continue to make progress and innovate with the Canton Fair every year." Wang Bao, deputy general manager of Hisense International Marketing and Marketing Department, said that at the Canton Fair, Hisense has set up eight exhibition areas in total, displaying ULED. X technology platform, 120-inch 4K laser TV and more than 100 models of the latest technology and high-quality products. As a representative of "Made in China", Hisense hopes to use the Canton Fair to bring better technological innovations to overseas customers.

Zhu Yinbo, deputy general manager of Aucma Overseas Development Division and general manager of Aucma Hong Kong Trading Company, is an old friend of the Canton Fair. It has been 20 years since we first participated in the Canton Fair in 2002. "This time, we have contacted almost all foreign old customers in advance, and come to the Canton Fair to catch up on the old days, hoping to promote more new cooperation." She said that at this Canton Fair, Aucma brought products from all industries, and the design of the exhibition area has also been carefully prepared. , important positions are reserved for new products suitable for foreign markets.

To enter the international market, small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises are also full of confidence and ready to go.

Qingdao Tianyi Group Hongqi Motor Co., Ltd. is one of the third batch of specialized and new "little giant" enterprises of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In the industrial field, electric motors are the "heart" of equipment. Tianyi Hongqi Motor is focusing on this field. Zang Chuanwei, the person in charge of Tianyi Hongqi Motor’s booth, said: “Our products are mainly oriented to the mid-to-high-end market in Europe, and sales have been relatively stable in the past two years. However, the overall competitive pressure in the industry is increasing. We hope to communicate with customers face-to-face through the Canton Fair to gain access to the motor industry. new trends in global demand”

The competitiveness of "going overseas" is open innovation

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently released the latest "World Economic Outlook Report", lowering the growth forecast of the global economy and developed economies, but the growth forecast for China's economy in 2023 remains at 5.2%, and China is called the world economy. key engine of growth. Earlier, the World Bank also raised its forecast for China's economic growth. World Bank President Malpass said that the global economy will be weak this year, but China's economy will be an "exception."

In fact, this "exception" is not an "accident", because an open ecology will naturally breed vigorous vitality.

In the past week, driven by the Canton Fair, the inbound and outbound passenger flow of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport has risen rapidly, and the number of air ticket bookings departing from overseas cities to Guangzhou has increased by more than 10 times. China's economy is like a powerful magnet, and it is becoming a place where resources and elements are scrambling to pour into.

For Qingdao, the Canton Fair is a testing ground for products, a touchstone for the market, and the forefront of opening up.

The booth of Haier Zhijia conveys the concept of "global independent brand creation" everywhere. Entering the era of the Internet of Things, Haier Smart Home is based on the three-level brand strategy leadership of high-end brands, scene brands, and ecological brands, and accelerates the implementation of smart homes around the world. While consolidating the strength of the world's first brand of home appliances, it will become a global smart home ecological brand leader.

The Hisense booth is filled with the vitality of innovation and change. The next important breakthrough for Hisense's internationalization lies in the "going overseas" of the B2B industry. Through the development of B2B businesses such as smart cities, intelligent transportation, medical equipment, and commercial displays, we can seize opportunities for industrial development; through the layout of global R&D, manufacturing, and sales, we can seize regional development opportunities. This is the "new opportunity" that Hisense sees. It is also a new starting point for Hisense's global expansion.

At the Canton Fair, leading companies have a unique set of global expressions. However, judging from the questionnaire survey of 15,000 Canton Fair exhibitors recovered in the early stage, the decline in orders and insufficient demand are still the pain points of small and medium-sized foreign trade companies.

In order to fully promote Qingdao exhibitors to seize global orders, the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce has worked hard and carefully planned to continuously improve the level of service guarantee. During the preparatory period, the "Qingdao Trading Group Canton Fair Promoting Export Growth Working Mechanism" was established, which further clarified the follow-up service for the transaction orders. Classify and sort out the declared enterprises, focus on training and guidance, and support a group of enterprises with independent innovation and great growth potential to enter the brand exhibition area. In terms of booth arrangement, we will further favor enterprises with export growth potential and high-tech enterprises, gradually increase the proportion of new products and high value-added products, optimize the structure of exhibitors, and enhance the overall competitive advantages of Qingdao exhibitors.

To fully support enterprises "going overseas" to stabilize orders, expand markets, and increase confidence, we also need to rely on powerful policy services to "combine punches".

At present, the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce is taking the lead in researching and formulating policies and measures to promote the stable scale and optimized structure of foreign trade, support key districts and cities, and the cultivation of leading enterprises, develop new formats and new models, and stabilize market expectations.

Qingdao port has been upgraded to a port of departure, and the policy empowers Hong Kong and the city. Departments of finance, ports, customs, taxation, and commerce will work together to give full play to the advantages of the departure tax rebate policy of Qingdao Port of Departure to attract more trade entities to settle in Qingdao.

Innovation is a key driver of trade development. Qingdao will implement supporting policies, guide enterprises to accelerate digital transformation through industry vertical platforms and independent stations, optimize the layout and functional services of public overseas warehouses, and promote the steady growth of cross-border e-commerce.

The future of trade is digital. This year, the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Commerce will also study and formulate guidelines for the development of digital trade, promote the coordinated development of advanced manufacturing and digital trade industries, and create new development space for the integration of services and trade in goods.

The vicissitudes of life show the true qualities of a hero. This Guangzhou appointment may be a new starting point for Qingdao's export-oriented economy to flourish. In the past three years, the practice of Qingdao Foreign Trade Co., Ltd. withstood the storm and successfully broke through, which also indicated the correct direction to get out of the temporary predicament. As long as you strengthen your confidence, hold your ground, and open up cooperation, the ship of Qingdao Foreign Trade will surely go far and steadily.