The 139th Canton Fair will be held in three phases from April 15 to May 5 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, featuring 75,700 exhibition booths, over 32,000 participating enterprises, and more than 210,000 pre-registered buyers, with approximately 3,900 companies making their debut. Recently, netizens called for support to allocate exhibition booths to small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises at the fair, prompting a response from the Department of Foreign Trade under China's Ministry of Commerce.
This year's Canton Fair is more "innovative, high-quality, specialized, and practical"
Novel themes. The exhibition zones have been expanded to 179, with the first addition of nine specialized sections including smart wearables, display technologies, consumer-grade drones, integrated housing and courtyard facilities. The scale of exhibition areas for electronic consumer goods, new materials, and industrial automation has been increased, continuously fostering new growth points in foreign trade.
The enterprise sector demonstrates strong performance. Over 11,000 high-quality enterprises with titles such as specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative enterprises (SRDI enterprises) or single-item champions were recorded, representing a 5.1% increase. The exhibition site will showcase more than 4.65 million exhibits, with new products, green products, and products with independent intellectual property rights accounting for 23%,22%, and 25% respectively.
Investment Promotion Section. As of April 9, over 210,000 purchasers had completed preliminary registration. A total of 290 leading purchasing enterprises confirmed their attendance, representing a 30% year-on-year increase; 148 industrial and commercial institutions confirmed participation in group visits, marking a 17.5% year-on-year growth.
The event will feature over 600 product launch events, 9 thematic forums, and 15 "Trade Bridge" supplier-buyer matchmaking activities to better facilitate supply-demand matching for domestic and international enterprises. For the first time, a "Light of Design" exhibition area will be established to showcase award-winning masterpieces with gold or higher honors, supporting enterprises in building independent brands and enhancing international influence.
Ministry of Commerce Responds to SMEs on Exhibition Participation Strategies
Enrichwheel representative said: We operate a small factory in the eastern coastal region, and our products have been exported for over a decade. We want to participate in the Canton Fair (China Import and Export Fair), but we cannot apply for a booth. Some companies have to pay intermediaries to buy booths. Can the Ministry of Commerce provide support for small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in the allocation of Canton Fair booths?
The Department of Foreign Trade under China's Ministry of Commerce responded: Established in 1957, the Canton Fair has undergone multiple relocations and expansions over the years to meet enterprises' needs for market expansion and order acquisition. With its current exhibition area exceeding 1.55 million square meters, the 139th edition attracted over 32,000 exhibitors. However, booth supply remains insufficient, leaving many companies unable to participate—a gap that persists between the fair's capacity and enterprises' expectations for leveraging this platform to open international markets.
We actively support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in participating in exhibitions and provide exhibition channels for those that do not meet the minimum export value requirements. Although the "China Import and Export Fair Export Exhibition General Booth Quantity Arrangement Measures" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") stipulate that participating enterprises must meet minimum export value standards (e.g., coastal non-circulating enterprises must achieve a minimum export value of $750,000), the Measures also explicitly state that trade delegations (organized by provincial or separately planned city commerce authorities) may allocate a certain proportion of booths in each exhibition zone (not exceeding 20% of the total booths allocated to the delegation in that zone) to new enterprises or SMEs that do not meet the minimum export value requirements but demonstrate growth potential. Eligible enterprises are advised to strengthen communication with local commerce authorities and actively express their participation intentions.
The entire process of booth allocation shall comply with public disclosure procedures. If enterprises have objections to the booth arrangements of their trade delegations, they may directly contact the local commerce authorities to report the situation. Meanwhile, we will guide all trade delegations to strictly adhere to regulations in booth allocation arrangements, assisting various enterprises in utilizing the Canton Fair platform to expand markets and secure orders.
