China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair)

The China Import and Export Fair, universally known as the Canton Fair (广交会), is China's flagship comprehensive international trade exhibition and one of the oldest and largest trade fairs in the world. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and organized by the China Foreign Trade Centre, and it has been staged in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, since its first session in the spring of 1957. Because it is held twice a year — a spring session and an autumn session — it functions as a recurring national platform through which Chinese manufacturers meet overseas buyers and, increasingly, foreign exporters meet Chinese importers. The fair's core offering is not a physical product but a curated marketplace: tens of thousands of exhibitors spread across exhibition complexes in Guangzhou present goods spanning consumer electronics, home appliances, lighting, building materials, machinery and tools, vehicles and spare parts, textiles and garments, shoes, office supplies, gifts, decorations, household items, food and agricultural products, and medical and health products. Sessions are organized into exhibition areas and product categories, and the fair has progressively added import pavilions so that international companies can sell into the Chinese market from the same venue. Alongside the physical exhibition, the Canton Fair has built an online platform that supports product listing, live-streamed presentations, and matchmaking between buyers and suppliers, extending the fair beyond its on-site dates. Commercially, the Canton Fair is best understood as a trade-facilitation brand rather than a manufacturer. Its positioning rests on scale, longevity, and its role as a barometer of Chinese export activity: the twice-yearly sessions are widely watched for signals about export orders, pricing, and demand from the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and emerging markets. Attendance figures and transaction totals announced at each session are treated as economic indicators in Chinese and international media. The fair is state-sponsored and not a listed company; it operates as a public trade-promotion institution under the Ministry of Commerce, with the China Foreign Trade Centre handling logistics, exhibitor services, and international marketing. In the present day the Canton Fair remains the anchor event of China's trade-promotion calendar, complemented by regional and sector-specific fairs. Its brand value lies in continuity — more than six decades of sessions — and in the density of supply it assembles in one place, which makes it a standard first stop for global sourcing professionals. The fair has also adapted to digital commerce, using its online channel to keep buyers connected between sessions and to reach markets that cannot travel to Guangzhou.

The Canton Fair was created in 1957, in the early years of the People's Republic of China, as a state-organized channel for foreign trade at a time when private trading companies and normal commercial channels were limited. Its first session opened in Guangzhou in the spring of 1957, and a second session followed in the autumn of the same year, establishing the twice-yearly rhythm that has persisted ever since. Guangzhou was chosen because of its proximity to Hong Kong and its long history as a southern trading port, which made it accessible to overseas buyers. Through the 1960s and 1970s the fair was one of the very few regular windows through which foreign firms could buy Chinese goods and meet Chinese producers directly. Exhibits in these decades centered on agricultural products, textiles, light industrial goods, and simple manufactured items. The fair's role expanded after China's reform and opening-up began in the late 1970s, when export manufacturing grew rapidly in Guangdong and along the coast and demand for overseas buyers increased sharply. From the 1980s onward the Canton Fair grew in scale and in the breadth of product categories, adding machinery, electronics, vehicles and parts, and building materials as Chinese industry diversified. Exhibition space expanded through successive purpose-built complexes in Guangzhou, and the fair became a fixture of the international sourcing calendar, with buyers from the United States, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America attending each session. In the 2000s the fair introduced import pavilions, changing its character from a purely export platform to a two-way trade event, and it reorganized its schedule into phases so that different product groups could be exhibited in sequence within each session. The China Foreign Trade Centre, the Ministry of Commerce affiliate that organizes the fair, took on a larger role in venue management and exhibitor services. During the COVID-19 pandemic the fair moved online for several sessions, using a digital platform for product display, live-streaming, and remote matchmaking. This experience carried into later sessions, which combined on-site exhibition with an online component. In the 2020s the fair has continued to be held twice yearly in Guangzhou, with sessions emphasizing advanced manufacturing, new energy products, and consumer goods, and with official attendance and transaction figures reported each session as indicators of China's export performance.

• First session of the China Import and Export Fair opens in Guangzhou in spring 1957.

• Second session held in autumn 1957, establishing the twice-yearly format.

• Fair expands product categories through the 1980s as Chinese export manufacturing grows.

• Import pavilions introduced in the 2000s, making the fair a two-way trade platform.

• Fair moves online for several sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

China's national flagship trade fair and a global sourcing benchmark, valued for scale, longevity, and its role as a barometer of Chinese exports.

• Spring and autumn exhibition sessions

  Twice-yearly comprehensive trade exhibitions held in Guangzhou.

• Online Canton Fair platform

  Digital channel for product display, live-streaming, and buyer-supplier matchmaking.

• Import pavilions

  Exhibition areas allowing foreign companies to present goods to Chinese buyers.

• 2026-10-15

  140th Canton Fair introduces 50+ innovation measures in Guangzhou[2]第140届广交会推出超50项创新举措news.cnr.cn

  Reported: 2026-10-13

  The 140th Canton Fair, to be held in Guangzhou in three phases from October 15 to November 4, 2026, is introducing more than 50 innovation measures in smart applications and supporting trade services. First-time launches include 22 smart application scenarios and 16 AI-powered features (booth-level navigation, AR booth information, AI-generated meeting summaries), an overseas buyer membership service with a four-tier points system, dedicated metro schedules with international card-payment gates, autonomous bus routes, and 12 customs facilitation measures by Guangzhou Customs, aiming to provide full-process services and improve supply-demand matchmaking efficiency.

1. 1China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) official websitecantonfair.org.cn
2. 2第140届广交会推出超50项创新举措news.cnr.cn