International Pavilion at the Canton Fair.

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The Canton Fair is China’s largest trade fair which has been growing steadily since its first session in 1957. The fair is held twice a year, every spring and autumn, in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, where about 200,000 buyers from more than 210 countries visit more than 55,000 stands during the three weeks the exhibition lasts.

Since China’s opening up in the late 1970s, international companies have been demonstrating an increasing interest in showcasing their products and solutions for Chinese buyers and consumers. Starting from the 101st session held in 2007, it has become possible for foreign companies to exhibit at the Canton Fair’s new International Pavilion, and this has turned the Canton Fair into an even more important centre of international trade in Asia. All in all 395 international companies made use of this chance at the last session in spring 2009, which allowed them to display their products and solutions in front of the international audience.

Danish exporters could also benefit greatly from exhibiting at the International Pavilion, where they will become visible to the Chinese as well as a large group of international buyers attending the fair.

One of Danish-Chinese Business Forum’s members, Integrated Gas Technologies, is an example of a company with a positive experience of exhibiting at the Canton Fair. The company’s director, Tom Lundquist says, “The Canton Fair is a fantastic place to exhibit. We get to expose our products to many potential third world customers, and we can do it all in one place.” Due to the fair’s extraordinary size it may be necessary to book more than one stand, if one wants to make sure that one’s products will be seen by the visitors, maintains Tom Lundquist.

Integrated Gas Technologies plans to participate in the coming Fair, exhibiting both the National and the International Pavilions.
The Canton Fair is rapidly gaining importance not only for Asian countries but for the rest of the world as well. Says Tom Lundquist, “Having participated in the Canton Fair twice, we were able to establish close to 70 new contacts each time, with many of them coming not only from Asia but also from the Middle East and South and Middle Americas. We would not have been able to meet these customers anywhere else, let alone in European countries, for many of the visitors would have had difficulties obtaining European visas.”

Within 12 months of the company’s first exhibition in October 2008, Integrated Gas Technologies has subsequently opened new businesses in Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Panama, Indonesia and Vietnam, with still 10 more countries in the pipeline.

The main potential customers that come to the fair are buyers who are ready to place orders immediately, in some cases even offering cash down payments right there at the exhibition booth. According to Mr. Lundquist, “the Canton Fair operates more like a real market place, where deals are done, rather than like a show room.”

It also seems that the fair’s visitors are starting to appreciate quality foreign products even in the presence of several Chinese competitors and considerably cheaper Chinese-made goods. “Third world customers are ready to pay extra for the product if they know they can get the right quality at the right price,” claims Tom Lundquist.

Tom Lundquist will be happy to share the company’s experience with our members. His contact information can be accessed through the Knowledge Base (in the sub-group “business to business sales in China”) or by contacting the Danish-Chinese Business Forum secretariat.