The 113^th Canton Fair is closing in May 5th,213. As the first session held after the 18^th Party Congress and the new generation of central leadership, this session bears great significance. According to the statistics of the General Customs in the first quarter this year, China’s foreign trade fares better than the same period of last year. However, the inadequate external demand hasn’t been improved. Pressure facing the foreign trade development is not relieved, due to the rising cost of labor, land, and other factors of production, as well as the difficulty and cost of financing. RMB appreciation and growing trade disputes also contribute to the pressure.

With both domestic and international problems, the 113^th Canton Fair implemented the strategy of “innovation driven development” and focused on accelerating the transformation of foreign trade growth. We worked hard towards the goal of achieving “steady growth, restructuring, and balanced trade” in the principle of progress based on stability. Also we drove innovation in Canton Fair’s business development mode to improve quality, efficiency and the standard of exhibition organization.

With the attention and leadership from the party committee of the Ministry of Commerce, the support of Guangzhou municipal government and other relevant agencies, and the concerted efforts of our staffs, the 113^th Canton Fair went on smoothly; we reached our goals and made new contribution to the foreign trade development.

Now I would like to introduce to you the general situation of this session.

1. Buyer attendance recovered

202,766 overseas buyers from 211 countries and regions around the world attended the 113^th Canton Fair, a 7.06% increase over the 112^th session and a 3.83% decrease over the 111^th session.

Of all continents, Asia ranks No.1 in buyer attendance, with 109,994 people, taking up 54.25% of the total. No.2 is Europe with 36,453 buyers and 17.97% of the total, No.3 America with 31,709 buyers and 15.64% share, No.4 Africa with 17,427 buyers and 8.59% share, and No.5 Oceania with 7,201 buyers and 3.55% share respectively.

Compared with the last session, the number of buyers from Africa increased by 28.96%, from Oceania 15.11%, America 11.41%, Asia 7.51%, and Europe decreased by 6.21%. Compared with the 111^th session, the number of buyers from Africa was up by 2.54%, from Oceania down by 2.89%, Asia down by 3.29%, Europe down by 4.89%, and America down by 7.78%.

Buyer attendance of the top 20 countries and regions totaled 127,882, accounting for 63.07% of the total, 2.33 percentage points lower than the previous session. The top 10 countries and regions with the most buyers are Hong Kong SAR, the United States, India, Russia, Taiwan Province, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, and South Korea.

Buyer attendance from China’s 2012 top ten trading partner countries and regions reached 123,767 in this session, accounting for 61.04% of the total, 5.26 percentage points lower than the previous session.

Altogether 1,603 international chain companies attended the Fair, down by 1.66% compared with the 112^th session and 8.14% with the 111^th session. 3682 representatives from these companies attended the Fair, down by 3.2% compared with the 112^th session and 13.14% with the 111^th session. 66 out of the World 250 Retail Enterprises released in 2012 attended the Fair. Among them were 6 of the top 10 retail enterprises: Wal-mart, Carrefour, Tesco, Costco, Walgreens, and Home Depot.

The number of regular buyers totaled 146,383, taking up 72.2% of the total and up by 5.4%. Among these regular buyers, 48,977 attended the Fair for over 10 times, up by 5.5%; for over 15 times there were 30,107, up by 5.3%. New buyers reached 56,383, up by 11.59%; the number accounts for 27.8% of the total, up by 1.12 percentage points.

2. The external demand is still inadequate, and the transformation of growth model and restructuring need to be accelerated

The accumulated export turnover of this session totaled 35.54 billion US dollars, an increase of 8.8% over the 112^th session and a decrease of 1.4% over the 111^th session.

The turnover with the EU, the US, and Japan increased by 6.3%, 9.9%, and 38% over the 112^th session, and decreased by 4.9%, 0.5% and 12.6% over the 111^th session; with BRICS countries (India, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa), increased by 6% over the 112^th session and 5.2% over the 111^th session; with the Middle East, an increase of 10% over the 112^th session and 3.8% over the 111^th session; with ASEAN countries, a growth of 1.5% over the 112^th session and a decline of 6.5% over the 111^th session.

Private enterprises achieved a turnover of 21.19 billion US dollars, up by 3.3% over the 112^th session and down by 12.8% over the 111^th session. Foreign invested enterprises achieved a turnover of 8.6 billion US dollars, up by 24.6% over the 112^th session and 36.5% over the 111^th session. State-owned enterprises 5.75 billion dollars, up by 9.4% over the 112^th session and 6% over the 111^th session.   The share of mid- and short-term orders was still high while that of long-term orders stayed low. Short-term orders within 3 months took up 48.6% of the total, and mid-term orders of 3 to 6 months 16.3% of the total. This showed that affected by the financial crisis, buyers were still cautious in signing orders; and that domestic enterprises were reluctant to receive long-term orders due to worries about fluctuations in price of raw materials and exchange rate.  

Transaction in brand section was relatively better, and brand enterprises focused more on developing new competitive edge. The turnover in brand section stood at 12.92 billion US dollars, an increase of 2.7% over the 112^th session and a decrease of 2.9% over the 111^th session. Enterprises with indigenous brand, advanced design concepts, innovative technology and value-added products witnessed brisk transaction. More and more companies realized that it is an inevitable choice for their survival and growth to develop new competitive edges based on technology, brand, quality and service.

There was a great demand for stands in the International Pavilion, and special local products were popular. During this session, both the quantity and quality of exhibitors in the International Pavilion increased. 562 enterprises from 38 countries attended the Fair. In order to explore the Chinese market, overseas exhibitors displayed green, high-tech and special local products, which were very popular among Chinese buyers. During this session, a special hotline for domestic buyers of the International Pavilion was set up to give detailed information about badge application and other services.

3. The awareness of IPR protection of all attendees was enhanced

In this session, the Canton Fair Complaint Station handled 542 cases, with 664 exhibitors filed and 354 determined constituting alledged infringment. Compared with the previous session, the number of cases handled increased by 12.22%, the number of filed enterprises decreased by 0.9%, and the number of alledged infringment was up by 5.67%. The Station also dealt with 45 trade disputes, down by 19.64% over the last session. As more and more enterprises paid attention to innovation, their awareness of IPR protection was enhanced, and the ability of safeguarding their rights and dealing with complaints was also improved.

The 113^th Canton Fair continued to issue Agency Badge for IPR complaints, and 21 agencies applied for the Badge. Multinational corporations such as Panasonic, Michelin, Sanrio, Toshiba, Dyson, L'Oreal, and ARC entrusted agencies to safeguard their rights in Canton Fair according to the law.  

4. Canton Fair’s premiun information services were popular

As enterprises were willing to promote upgrading and transformation, they took an active part in PDC (Product Design and Trade Promotion Center)’s activities to develop new advantages. The total exhibition area of PDC in this session reached 895.5 m², up by 73% than the last session. It attracted 45 domestic and foreign companies / institutes from 10 countries and regions and held 4 forums with design theme and 16 matchmaking activities, which was applauded by many enterprises. Trade delegations of Jiangsu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shenzhen and Guangzhou organized enterprises to participate in the matchmaking activities in a targeted manner, with improved results. Design institutes and exhibitors spoke highly of the 134 conferences and forums that were held in this session. The Canton Fair International Market Forum took the theme of Russian market and attracted nearly 400 enterprise representatives.

5. The Canton Fair E-commerce Platform was officially launched

In the 113^th session, the Canton Fair E-commerce Platform was officially launched. The Platform relies on authentic resources of buyer information, global promotion channels, online and offline interconnectivity, one-stop trade services and credit and compensation system. With these 5 advantages, the E-commerce Platform will create a credible and effective trade environment, and become an authentic and state-level platform of e-commerce and internatinal trade. This is an important step towards the “smart Canton Fair”, and will bring about historic breakthroughs.

Till present, the Platform has been operating for 21 days. The information collection devices in the booths and the information exchange mobile terminals (trade matching service with guidebook) were operating smoothly; the mobile terminals provided services to 118,000 buyers and provided matching information to exhibitors for 740,000 times.  

6. On-site service efficiency was greatly improved

The 113^th Canton Fair promoted low carbon and environmental protection. We implemented the Opinions on Promoting Environment Protection and Low Carbon Development in Canton Fair in stand construction and dismantling, as well as buyer attendance. We also launched competition of low carbon and environmental protection among custom-built stands, giving rewards to winning exhibitors and builders. Altogether 45 stands won the title of “green and environmentally-friendly stand”. Besides, we encouraged enterprises to use environmentally- friendly materials in an effort to upgrade the exhibition mode of Canton Fair.

This session published 18 commitments (increased from 12 in last session) of providing timely services. The standard of timely service provision was met in 89.2% of the cases, and the whole process of providing services was monitored to improve the efficiency. We continued to optimize badge management in the principle of “one badge for one person”. The management of personnel badges was more convenient and efficient, and complex entry and exit was more smooth. In the meanwhile, the order inside complex was greatly improved and contributed to the security.

The Canton Fair Call Centre had 30 seats in this session, providing an all-day staff and automatic answering service in Chinese, English, Spanish, French and Russian. With the hotline 4000-888-999, we received 32,937 calls, dialed 16,105 interview calls, and handled 1,706 cases from end to end. Interview calls showed that 97.56% of the customers were satisfied.

The attending media from home and abroad followed the 113^th Canton Fair closely. You focused on the key issues and highlights of this session, and interviewed exhibitors, buyers and local commercial organs. You gave comprehensive, objective and in-depth reports on efforts of exhibitors to promote innovation, build brands, explore emerging markets and contribute to foreign trade upgrading. On behalf of the News Centre of the Canton Fair, I would like to express our sincere thanks for your hard work!