With a reported 8.8% share of the global export sector, it’s small wonder that China’s trade fairs are so successful. The China Perspective reports:
The second session of the 104th Canton Fair, which was themed around daily necessities, gifts, furniture and ornaments, resulted in US$8.31 billion in export contracts signed, vice secretary Mu Xinhai told China Business News.
The EU was the top buyer with US$2.76 billion worth of contracts, followed by the US with US$1.17 billion and the Middle East with US$770 million. The three regions accounted for 56.6% of total export contracts.
Cal Poly’s International Business Tour blog posted on the integral role of trade fairs in the China export market, in comparison to such fairs’ more nominal status abroad. As this video illustrates, the fairs are a different kind of animal:
With over a half century of biannual fairs, the Canton Fair used to be the only import/export showcase of its kind in China. But as of late it has accounted for the successful signing of at least a quarter of Chinese export contracts, according to the Ministry of Commerce in 2006.
See this CDT post that concerns recently increased Chinese export incentives.
For what it is worth, I attended such a fair in Guangdong this past summer, attempted to buy a single keychain, and was rebuffed. The minimum amount sold was 500.
