The 139th Canton Fair hit a new high with core indicators of 1.55 million square meters of exhibition area, 75,700 booths, and over 32,000 exhibiting companies.
However, in addition to the scale, the nine new special areas added for the first time in this exhibition, the significant changes in the buyer structure, and the transformation of more than one-third of the companies to the “product + service” model, these three major trends together outline a picture of China’s foreign trade structure upgrading beyond “volume increase”.
New Zone: 670 Enterprises Transformed from “Scale Advantage” to “Technological Advantage”
The 9 new zones added for the first time at this Canton Fair, including smart wearables, consumer drones, and green and low carbon, are not a simple expansion of the exhibition area, but a centralized review of high-tech foreign trade.
About 670 companies and more than 1,300 booths constitute the main exhibitors in these new zones.
The data directly reveals the momentum and direction of transformation.
The proportion of green products in the entire exhibition reached 22%, which further increased to 24.1% in the second phase.
The “green content” at this exhibition is highly resonant with first-quarter foreign trade data: China’s electric vehicle exports increased by 77.5%, lithium battery exports increased by 50.4%, and wind turbine exports increased by 45.2%.
In the exhibition hall, the number of inquiries from buyers in the smart wearable and drone areas was more than 30% higher than that in the ordinary exhibition area.
The upgrading of industrial clusters is also shown through data. For example, the Haining home textile cluster participated in the exhibition as a group, and its export price was 15% higher than that of similar companies.
Zhao Fujun of the Development Research Center of the State Council pointed out that the rise of green products marks the shift from price competition to technology and standards competition in China’s foreign trade, becoming an important engine for promoting foreign trade growth.
The establishment of the new zone will push the scattered “new, green and smart” products from the corner of the exhibition hall into the spotlight. Behind it is the supply-side foundation composed of more than 11,000 high-quality companies with the titles of “Specialized, Special and New” and “Individual Champion”.
Emerging markets: more than half of the buyers and a growth rate of 23.7%
This Canton Fair attracted 314,000 overseas buyers from 220 countries and regions.
Structural changes are more profound than total growth: among pre-registered buyers, more than 120,000 are from countries co-building the “Belt and Road”, accounting for more than 70% of the total.
Guangzhou border inspection data shows that since April, the inbound and outbound passenger flow of countries jointly building the “Belt and Road” has increased by 26.09% year-on-year, of which passenger flow from emerging markets such as ASEAN, Latin America, and Africa accounted for 50.08%.
This is not an isolated case of the exhibition, but a microcosm of the changes in China’s foreign trade market pattern.
In the first quarter of 2026, China’s imports and exports to countries co-building the “Belt and Road” were 6.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.2%, accounting for 51.2% of the total foreign trade value; China’s imports and exports to Africa increased by 23.7%, a growth rate far exceeding that of traditional markets.
The cases at the enterprise level are also specific: Jiangsu Sesame Tools’ on-site transactions with South American customers at this Canton Fair were nearly US$7 million, a year-on-year increase of 30%.
Policy dividends are adding to this trend.
Starting from May 1, 2026, China will fully implement zero tariffs with 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China.
The head of the World Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce said that this move will reduce the cost of African products entering the Chinese market. Liu Jisen, dean of the Institute of African Studies at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, predicts that Africa’s exports to China will grow at an average annual rate of 20% or higher in the future.
At the same time, the China-Latin America Free Trade Agreement network continues to release efficiency. For example, the operation of the Chancay Port in Peru has shortened the China-Peru shipping voyage by 10 days and reduced logistics costs by about 30%.
“Products + Services”: The value transition and profit reconstruction of more than one-third of the companies
The profound changes in the form of foreign trade are reflected in the transformation of corporate profit models.
At this Canton Fair, more than one-third of the exhibitors are shifting from simply selling products to exporting overall solutions of “products + services”.
This transformation directly brings about a jump in value.
The traditional artificial flowers of Lufeng Yongsheng Crafts sell for only US$1 each, and their bargaining power is weak; however, the intelligent artificial flowers launched this year with dynamic opening and closing and light-emitting functions, priced at US$40, have still received a large number of orders, and their profit margins have increased significantly.
Guangdong Guangheyue Building Technology has transformed from a fixed shed manufacturer to an outdoor space solution provider. After the transformation, the value of its products has increased several times, and the average annual export growth rate has reached double digits.
The transaction data confirms the effectiveness of the model.
The Hubei trading group achieved a transaction volume of US$266 million in the first phase, a year-on-year increase of 10.8%; among them, the transaction growth rate of enterprises providing “products + services” was leading.
This model not only increases added value, but also enhances customer stickiness.
More than 7% of exhibitors directly provide “hardware + software + service” integration solutions, and nearly 30% of companies are transforming to this.
Professor Wang Xiaosong of Renmin University of China analyzed that using producer services as the engine can effectively promote the extension of manufacturing to specialization and the high end of the value chain. Service links such as R&D and design, remote operation and maintenance have become new engines for improving quality, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
From the “technological upgrade” focused on by the nine new zones, to the “market diversification” revealed by more than half of the emerging market purchasers, to the “service value-added” practiced by more than one-third of the companies, the three major trends of the 139th Canton Fair, with specific figures and cases, clearly defined the new coordinates of the evolution of China’s foreign trade structure towards “high technology, diversification, and high added value.”
The key to the next stage is whether these new driving forces can continue to hedge against the fluctuations of the traditional market and transform the innovations and orders on the booth into a more solid competitive advantage in the global industrial chain.
