Since 1957, the spring and autumn trade fairs in Guangzhou have been among the world’s largest trade shows. This autumn’s giant event features 30,000 exhibitors in its 1.55 million sq.m. event space, a little less than half the size of New York’s Central Park in Manhattan. 

The China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, is not just a major window for China’s exports and imports, but a symbol of China’s opening and an important platform for cooperation in international trade. It plays a key role in advancing the development of China’s foreign trade and the economic and trade exchanges between China and the rest of the world. It is renowned as China’s No. 1 Trade Fair and is both a driver and barometer of China’s foreign trade.

The Canton Fair is co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province and is organized by China Foreign Trade Centre. Since its establishment in 1957, the Canton Fair has been held every spring and autumn in Guangzhou, China, for 139 sessions through spring of 2026. This year’s autumn fair is the 140th in an uninterrupted series, even during Covid-19, when some sessions went online. It is a comprehensive international trading event with the longest history, largest scale, most complete variety of exhibits, largest buyer attendance, most diverse buyer origin, greatest business turnover and best reputation in China.

The 139th Canton Fair attracted 314,000 overseas buyers from 220 countries and regions to attend the Fair onsite.

The 140th Canton Fair is scheduled to open on October 15, with a total exhibition area of 1.55 million square meters. The organization of the coming session reflects innovative, sustainable and intelligent management strategies, and provides global buyers with a one-stop trading platform. It features a wide variety of exhibits, quality products at competitive prices, and convenient, efficient and reliable services. 

Highlights of the 140th session are as follows.

Exhibition Organization

Phase 1 focuses on “advanced manufacturing.” In addition to traditional industrial categories such as Machinery, Hardware, Tools, and Light & Electrical, cutting-edge technologies and intelligent products will be showcased in sections for Electronics & Appliances, New Energy Vehicles and Smart Mobility, Industrial Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing and New Energy Resources. A Service Robots Zone will display the latest achievements of China’s artificial intelligence applied to robotics. 

Phase 2 is about “quality home life.” The exhibition areas for Building and Furniture, Housewares, and Gifts & Decorations categories are over 130,000 square meters each, meeting the wide demand of global buyers seeking exquisite home products. Phase 2 will feature a Fashion Jewelry Zone to showcase the innovative integration of Chinese aesthetics with new materials and craftsmanship. 

Under the theme of “better life”, Phase 3 will exhibit products from Health and Recreation, Toys & Children, Infants and Mothers as well as Fashion sectors to meet sourcing demand for new demand trends. Phase 3 also features an Intelligent Healthcare Zone, highlighting innovative solutions in diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation care, and health management.

Exhibitors: Over 30,000 enterprises are expected to participate in the Fair, including about 2,800 Canton Fair brand exhibitors that have stood out through rigorous evaluation and proven innovation. Around one-third of all exhibitors are national high-tech enterprises, industry champions, and sophisticated small and medium enterprises. Exhibitors also include enterprises recommended by provinces and municipalities. Exhibitors are the benchmark “Made in China” enterprises and offer global buyers a one-stop, high-quality choice of a wide range of suppliers.

Products: A range of innovative products will be unveiled at the Fair for the first time. 

Products in Phase 1 will highlight new quality productive forces. The latest achievements in fields such as new energy resources, intelligent connected vehicles, intelligent manufacturing and drones will be presented. Humanoid robots, robotic dogs, robotic hands, companion robots, coffee robots, inspection robots, exoskeletons, delivery robots, cleaning robots and many more in this fast-growing industry will be exhibited at the Service Robots Zone. Smart watches, Virtual Reality (VR) glasses, Artificial Intelligence (AI) translation devices and other high-end and intelligent products will be showcased in the Smart Wearables Zone. 

Products in Phase 2 and 3 will feature innovative design, green and low-carbon products, as well as personalization and customization. The Fashion Jewelry Zone will display three types of products – natural jewelry and jade ornaments, artificial and synthetic jewelry and precious metal ornaments. Six types of products will be showcased in the Intelligent Healthcare Zone – intelligent diagnostic and medical equipment, medical robots, smart monitoring, smart wearables, intelligent physical therapy, and smart rehabilitation. Buyers can watch and experience products at first hand on site, or attend the Fair remotely on the official website and the Canton Fair APP. Whether in person or not, the Fair will showcase the innovative vitality of “Intelligent Manufacturing in China” from multiple dimensions.

Trade services. Focusing on the entire lifecycle of business, the Trade Service Zone provides services from R&D and design to international logistics, and financial insurance. “Trade Bridge-China Industrial Sourcing Trip” events will be staged to invite buyers to visit industrial bases and key industrial parks for direct buyer-manufacturer matchmaking. 

Targeting the needs of overseas buyers and the major themes of the exhibition, livestreamed exhibition tours and industry roundtables will be aired on the Fair’s official website and social media pages. Themed forums will provide insights into frontier trends and market risk prevention. 

The newly renovated Canton Fair Design Award (CF Award) showroom will be the venue for design activities, while the Product Design & Trade Promotion Center (PDC) will showcase design services and business models. Events featuring new design collections will be broadcast simultaneously on the Canton Fair official website and APP for efficient and hassle-free sourcing.

Convenience: To ease the way for global buyers, the Fair has launched year-round pre-registration and badge application at alternative registration offices prior to the Fair. New overseas buyers can pre-register on the Canton Fair official website and apply for free badges at Canton Trade Fair offices at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou South Railway Station, Pazhou Ferry Terminal, designated hotels in Guangzhou and the Canton Fair Hong Kong Representative Office. 

The Fair uses real-time navigation technology with GPS throughout the complex to make it easier for exhibitors and buyers to navigate the giant complex. The Canton Fair official website and Canton Fair APP are making constant improvements, including a new ASKME AI Agent to help buyers identify exhibitors and products online, and to enable instant communication with exhibitors.

The Canton Fair not only promotes the development of China’s foreign trade but also reflects the evolution of China’s protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). It has developed a value chain of IPR measures from pre-exhibition screening of exhibitors, rapid in-exhibition handling, and post-exhibition follow-up. The Fair’s management encourages exhibitors to showcase new products and technologies, including products which have yet to apply for patent or trademark protection, in the interest of giving buyers priority access to cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements.

Schedule: 

Phase 1: October 15-19, 2026

Phase 2: October 23-27, 2026

Phase 3: October 31-November 4, 2026

Breaks while setting up the next series of exhibits: October 20-22 and October 28-30, 2026.

Canton Fair official website and App

The Canton Fair official website and App operate 365 days a year, 24 hours/7, and display the same sections as the onsite exhibition. 

Resources: The Canton Fair official website offers access to a variety of resources, including the list of exhibitors and products, trade matching, news and events, new collections, exhibition layout, a Virtual Reality (VR) exhibition hall, themed forums, a Canton Fair Live Tour, short videos, Services & Support, the Trade Bridge event, what our friends say, a cross border E-commerce zone, and a rural vitalization zone. 

Search functions: To identify suppliers and products quickly, buyers can filter products based on industry, product category, specifications, enterprise types and trade models. 

Matchmaking: Buyers can contact suppliers through by posting a sourcing request, instant messaging, scheduling appointments, and sending business cards. Suppliers may also start instant messaging with previously contacted buyers for more convenient communication.

User friendly: The official website is deployed on a public cloud with industry-leading acceleration technology, providing a smoother experience for users.

Convenient APP: The Canton Fair App offers a comprehensive suite of functions to enhance the experience for both off-site and on-site participants. Functions include access to the data base of exhibitors and products, E-catalogs, short videos, instant messaging, business card exchange, trade matching, itinerary creation, navigation, the ASKEME agent, AI notes, catering guides, badge application and more. 

Buyers can log in quickly with facial recognition, use AI-powered smart search to find suppliers and add them to their itineraries, use booth-level navigation to get to booths, and leverage AI notes to automatically summarize key discussion points, making visiting and sourcing the Fair a rewarding experience. 

Scan the QR code below to download the Canton Fair APP.

The 140th Canton Fair Exhibition Sectors