BEIJING, April 17 (TMTPOST) – A record of 370,000 people visited the 133rd Canton Fair on its first day, including 67,000 overseas visitors, according to official data released last Saturday.

The 133rd Canton Fair achieved new records as the new exhibition hall was in use for the first time, with the exhibition area expanding from 1.18 million square meters to 1.5 million square meters, and the number of exhibitors increasing from 26,000 to over 34,000, both setting record highs. In the past, the authorities seldom disclosed the number of visitors on the first day. The last time this data was disclosed was during the 120th Canton Fair held in October 2016, when the number of visitors on the first day reached 167,000.

Established in spring 1957, the Canton Fair was originally named the “Chinese Export Commodities Fair” and later renamed as the “China Import and Export Fair.” Held twice a year, it has been a prominent event in China’s trade history. At its peak, the fair accounted for nearly half of the country’s total export orders, earning the reputation as “the first exhibition in China.” As trade orders often reflect companies’ export prospects, the fair is also seen as a “bellwether” or “barometer” of China’s foreign trade.

The large number of participants at this session of the Canton Fair is attributed to several factors. One such factor is the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions, but a more important one is that the fair is fully open to domestic buyers, which is unusual in its history. The 130th Canton Fair in 2021 was the first open to domestic buyers and the only offline one in the three years of the pandemic, albeit on a significantly compressed scale. Due to the pandemic prevention and control policy, foreigners had difficulties in entering the country at that time, and most offline buyers were domestic.

Officials said that the 133rd Canton Fair had seen more domestic merchants, although the exact number of registered buyers has not been disclosed yet. According to on-site observation, the proportion of overseas buyers has decreased compared to pre-pandemic levels, as the number of domestic buyers has increased significantly. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canton Fair usually attracted around 200,000 foreign buyers. Some exhibitors mentioned that the number of foreign buyers visiting their booths on the first day was higher than expected, but still far from the pre-pandemic level.

With the control of the pandemic, China’s export performance has been improving in 2023, reversing the year-on-year decline for five consecutive months in March, when a significant year-on-year double-digit growth was achieved. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs last Thursday, exports in March grew by 14.8% year-on-year in dollar terms, up 21.6% from January and February 2023 while representing the highest level since August 2022. Meanwhile, imports in March declined by 1.4% year-on-year, narrowing the decline by 8.8 percentage points and resulting in a trade surplus of 88.19 billion dollars.