120th Canton Fair to Widen International Influence when it Opens on October 15 on its 60th Anniversary

          60 years after its first launch, the 120th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) officially opened on October 15 in Guangzhou.

          With 1.18 million square meters of exhibition space, the Fair is divided into three phases with a total of 60,250 booths presented, of which 59,252 were in the National Pavilion, and featuring 23,938 companies located across 16 commodity categories in the 50 exhibition halls. The International Pavilion featured 615 companies from more than 40 countries and regions.

          The first phase of the Fair held from October 15-19 included electronics and machinery, hardware and building construction products. The second phase, from October 23-27, will mostly focus on consumer products and gifts, while the third phase from October 31 to November 4 will feature clothing and textiles, bags and luggage, recreation and sports, food, medical supplies and pharmaceutical healthcare products.

          The emphasis of this year's Fair is on substantially optimizing the displays and setup. 124 product zones throughout 27 exhibition sections are established for traditional industries including construction and building materials, machinery, hardware and tools, clothing and textiles and medical products. At the same time, new exhibition zones are opened for emerging industries like new energy and pet products, encouraging brands and companies from these sectors to attend.

          The 120th Canton Fair is hosting 23 meetings and events including industrial summits and forums, trend analysis, exploration of design and innovation, exchange of research and development and experience sharing on branding and marketing.

          A further highlight is the design section, playing host to a series of exhibitions, dialogues and fashion shows with a total of 94 design institutions from 14 countries and regions to take part.

          "Canton Fair now has the best influence on social media in the industry. We are engaging 600,000 followers on Facebook and 20,000 on LinkedIn in 7 languages daily," said Canton Fair spokesperson Xu Bing. "This time we've also hosted 16 remote video conferences in 15 countries and invite visitors to join us in discovering business opportunities and partners and discussing various industry trends. We also constantly enhance our Media Resource Exchange Program, which now has participants from 35 organizations in 21 countries and regions. We wish all the sellers and buyers will enjoy a fruitful session in the 60th year of Canton Fair."