China Import and Export Fair (CIEF), also known as the Canton Fair, was originated in the spring of 1957 and held in Guangzhou every spring and autumn.In April 1957, the first Canton Fair, then known as the Chinese Export Commodities Fair , was held in the Sino-Soviet Friendship Building.
The first visitors to the fair were only from a limited number of countries (by invitation only), mainly Asia, and the fair largely showcased agricultural goods, before the rise of China’s industrial production.
At the first session there were 1,223 attendees from nineteen countries from Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, South Africa, Mauritius, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Syria. The majority of buyers at the first session were from Hong Kong and Macau (1,021 buyers).
The Sino-Soviet Building was rented for the first two sessions with an area of 18,000sqm the fair had 9,600sqm of stalls, where thirteen professional Chinese foreign trade corporations exhibited – about 10,000 products – generating $86.86 million.
During the history of 119 sessions, it has borne the record among the international comprehensive trade fairs, with the longest history, the highest level, the largest scale, the most attendances, the most complete varieties of goods and the highest business turnover.
The Canton Fair is composed of 48 trading delegations, including thousands of foreign trade companies, factories, scientific research institutions, foreign invested enterprises, wholly foreign-owned enterprises, private enterprises, etc, all of which are of good credibility and strong financial capability.
Elites of business people visit Guangzhou to trade and communicate in various ways and provide a great deal of chances of commerce. In spite of the traditional negotiation against samples, the fair adds online way of trade. Based on export trade, it also deals with the import trade, economic and technological cooperation and exchanges, as well as commodity inspection, insurance, transportation, advertising, consultation, etc.
Fullwill company was founded in 2005. Since then,we attended every Canton Fair and met many customers there.
Covering an exhibition area of 1.18 million square meters, the 119th session of CIEF in 2016 offered 60,233 stands, which attracted 24,514 enterprises at home and abroad . The export turnover of about 28.08 billion USD surely would make great contribution to the development of foreign trade of China.
