China import and export fairs are where a large share of the world’s sourcing relationships still begin. China manufactures more goods than any other country, and since the 1990s buyers have travelled there to find suppliers in person. Online platforms have taken much of that traffic, but the fairs remain useful for a reason platforms cannot replicate: you handle the product and meet the people making it.
The Major China Import and Export Fairs
1. The Canton Fair
The China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou, universally called the Canton Fair, is the largest of all China import and export fairs and the largest trade fair in the world and the oldest, running since 1957. It is held twice a year, in spring and autumn, across three phases covering different product categories: electronics and machinery, consumer goods and gifts, then textiles, shoes, and health products. Tens of thousands of exhibitors attend each session. It now runs in a hybrid format with an online platform alongside the physical event.
If you attend only one of the China import and export fairs, this is it. The three-phase structure matters: turning up in the wrong phase for your product wastes the trip, so check the category schedule before booking.
2. The Yiwu Commodities Fair
Held each October in Yiwu, Zhejiang, this fair focuses on small consumer goods, gifts, toys, stationery, and household items. Yiwu is also home to the permanent International Trade City, the largest wholesale market in the world, which is open year-round and is arguably more useful than the fair itself for anyone sourcing small consumer products.
3. The China International Import Expo
Held in Shanghai each November since 2018, the CIIE runs in the opposite direction from the other fairs: it is for foreign companies selling into China rather than Chinese companies selling out. If your interest is the Chinese domestic market rather than sourcing from it, this is the relevant event.
4. Bauma China
A biennial construction machinery fair held in Shanghai in even-numbered years, and one of the largest industrial equipment exhibitions in Asia. Specialist rather than general, and worth the trip only if construction or mining equipment is your category.
5. The East China Fair
Held in Shanghai each March, focused on textiles, garments, and household goods. Smaller than Canton but more concentrated, which some buyers prefer.
6. Industry-Specific Fairs
Beyond the general China import and export fairs, most categories have their own: electronics shows in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, apparel and fabric fairs including Intertextile Shanghai, and packaging, furniture, and lighting exhibitions across the major manufacturing provinces. For a defined product category these are often more productive than the large general fairs, because every exhibitor is relevant.
Getting Access to China Import and Export Fairs
Registration for China import and export fairs is generally straightforward and often free or low-cost for buyers, done in advance through the fair’s own website. The practical requirements are a business visa rather than a tourist visa, since attending a trade fair is business activity, and a buyer badge obtained before travel rather than at the door.
Check current visa arrangements before booking. China has expanded visa-free transit and entry for a number of countries in recent years, and the rules change, so verify rather than assume.
Making the Most of China Import and Export Fairs
Prepare before you go. Know your specification, your target price, and your quantities. Exhibitors take a prepared buyer seriously and a vague one not at all, and there is no time at a fair to work out what you want.
Plan the route. The Canton Fair complex is enormous and walking it aimlessly costs a day. Use the exhibitor directory to identify who to see and where they are before arriving.
Take proper notes. You will collect dozens of cards and samples and will not remember which was which by the second evening. Photograph the booth with the card, and write down what you actually discussed.
Treat it as a shortlist, not a decision. A good conversation at a fair is a lead. It does not replace verifying whether the company is a factory or a trader, checking certifications with the issuing body, or ordering samples. The supplier selection article covers what comes next.
Expect traders. Many exhibitors at general fairs are trading companies rather than manufacturers. Ask for the business licence and which processes happen in-house.
Are China Import and Export Fairs Still Worth It?
For a small first order, probably not: the travel cost exceeds the benefit and online sourcing plus proper verification will do. For a significant programme, a new category, or a product needing technical discussion, they remain valuable, because handling a product and meeting the people who make it tells you things no listing does.
If you would rather have someone attend, shortlist, and verify on your behalf, that is part of what our product sourcing service does, with people already in China rather than flying in twice a year.
