China’s government has said the Canton Fair, the country’s oldest and largest tradefair, will move online in June. the bi-annual show had been scheduled to open 15 April, but was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Premier Li Keqiang was referenced by Chinese TV on 7 April as having chaired a discussion in cabinet on the subject. The Premier had insisted just a couple of weeks earlier that the tradefair’s spring session would go ahead despite the virus outbreak, describing it as an important part of Beijing’s efforts to stabilise the economy.
Clearly foreign participation, or lack of it, played a big part in the decision to postpone the April live date. The spring session of the Canton Fair attracted over 195,000 foreign buyers in 2019.
Authorities in Canton's wider Guangdong province, a major export and manufacturing hub, like those in Beijing and Shanghai, have introduced new restrictions requiring foreign visitors to be isolated for 14 days at their own expense.
The message seems to conflict with an announcement, also 7 April, that no new deaths from Covid-19 had been reported in China for the first day since the January outbreak.
The news comes on the back of the first major post-Covid-19 tradefair being held successfully in China in Heining (as reported by EW, 7 April).
Canton Fair has been held in the spring and autumn in Guangdong, China since 1957.
The Chinese government has also announced the extension of tax breaks for small firms, farmers and individual businesses to the end of 2023.
