Editorial | Challenges remain as Canton Fair returns from Covid hiatus
- American and European buyers are still being cautious because of geopolitical tensions but the biannual event is nonetheless an important gauge of China’s economy
The biannual Canton Trade Fair has evolved along with China over the years since first being staged in Guangzhou in 1957. At the start, the focus was on raw materials, but later shifted to manufacturing as China built itself up into the workshop of the world.
Further evolution was on display at the latest show, with the country’s electric vehicles (EVs) taking centre stage as displays of manufacturing prowess and cutting-edge production. The fair has long been regarded as a gauge for the health of China’s trade and industrial progress.
By that measure, it has yet to fully recover from the pandemic. Attendance has returned just four years after the country’s largest trade exhibition endured its biggest setback: it was cancelled in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic and only resumed in April 2023.
The people, at least, are back. The spring session set a new attendance record, with 246,000 participants in the three phases in April and May, up nearly 25 per cent from the sessions last autumn.
Despite the surge in visitors, they held on more tightly to their chequebooks. Participants signed US$24.7 billion worth of deals, organisers said, still far short of 2019’s US$29.3 billion, though it was an increase of 10 per cent from the autumn fair.
Over the years, the fair also has served as a barometer to trade and diplomatic friendship and frictions. The first fair took place during the China-Soviet Friendship Building era.