The conclusion starts with: The biggest change in this year's Canton Fair is not the scale, but how people are invited. The 140th Canton Fair will be held in Guangzhou in three phases from October 15 to November 4, 2026. Currently, more than 210,000 overseas buyers from 196 countries and regions have pre-registered, and the proportion of professional buyers is close to 80%; Among the 32,000 exhibitors, more than 11,000 specialized, innovative and individual champion companies account for more than one-third. Looking at it on a larger plate, Canton Fair has more than 300,000 buyers from more than 220 countries and regions attending the event. This is still one of the exhibition scenarios with the highest buyer density in the world.
The second change is technology penetration: 64% of exhibitors have integrated the industrial Internet or AI into production and supply chains, with new products accounting for 23.2%, and green products accounting for 26%, both reaching new highs. Add four firsts-the first time to carry out regular buyer pre-registration throughout the year, the first time to build a buyer labeling system, the first time to introduce AI solicitation and push, and the first time to establish a buyer alliance-the passenger flow at this year's exhibition issifted through tags and algorithmspassenger flow (sina finance）。For the factory, this means that the logic of more people in front of the booth has changed.
1. Let's go through the key figures of this year's QHG 0Q first
Only by looking at the scale and structural data together can we see the focus of this exhibition.
| project | numerical | description |
|---|---|---|
| holding time | October 15-November 4, 2026 | Guangzhou, divided into three phases |
| Pre-register buyers | More than 210,000 people | From 196 countries and regions |
| Specialized, innovative and individual champion enterprises | More than 11,000 | Accounting for more than one-third of the 32,000 exhibitors |
| Proportion of consumer goods, intermediate goods, and capital goods | 56.6%、30.7%、17.3% | structure distribution |
| Proportion of new products and green products | 23.2%、26% | are new high |
There is also a set of data that is easily ignored: exhibitors account for about 5% of the country's foreign trade companies and contribute about 16% of the country's general trade exports. The weight of this sentence is that companies that can stand on the Canton Fair booth are already the leaders of the foreign trade group, and the strength of their competitors does not need to be explained.
Second or fourth firsts, the change is the method of obtaining customers
Translate four first words into languages that the factory can use:
- Pre-registration is normalized throughout the year.Buyers 'intentions begin to settle a few months before the exhibition. If your English materials and online booths are not ready, the pre-exhibition screening stage will already fall behind.
- Buyer labeling system.Buyers will be labeled by category, purchase size, and source market. The more structured your product information is, the easier it will be to match it.
- AI invites push.The system will actively push buyers and sellers together, and booths that passively wait for customers to come to the door will obviously suffer losses.
- Buyer Alliance.Large buyers have more centralized purchasing decisions and fewer docking windows, but they have higher requirements for supplier stability.
3. 64% of enterprises have used AI and the Industrial Internet
The figure of 64% is worth stopping by factory owners. It means that the threshold for dialogue at the exhibition site has been raised: buyers will ask whether your production scheduling system can be connected, whether it can perform quick switching in small batches, and whether it can provide transparent data on production progress. According to calculations by institutions in the field of cross-border e-commerce, the AI application rate of cross-border e-commerce companies has exceeded 60%, and the import and export of cross-border e-commerce in the first half of the year reached 1.45 trillion yuan. The penetration of technology in the procurement process has changed from a bonus item to a basic item.
For factories, there is no need to pursue one step. Start with two things: one is to digitize and structure product information; the other is to allow quotations and delivery dates to be quickly recalculated according to customer conditions. After these two things are completed, the efficiency of on-site communication will immediately change.
4. Three preparations that must be completed before participating in the exhibition
- Reorganize the exhibits into two lines: new products and green products.The proportion of new products is 23.2% and the proportion of green products is 26%, which means that buyers are screening suppliers according to these two dimensions, and there must be corresponding display spaces on your booth.
- Use pre-registered traffic.Regular pre-registration throughout the year means that the list of intentions can be obtained before the exhibition, and making pre-exhibition reservations is much more efficient than trying your luck on-site.
- Be prepared for compliance.The United States has strictly checked the qualifications of IOR importers since September 18 and required the submission of Form 5106; the EU has taken effect on China's countervailing duties of 7.8%-35.3% for pure electric vehicles, and will reduce the duty-free quota for steel from July 2026. About 47%. These will all be asked at the negotiating table, and failure to answer will directly affect trust.
5. Three issues that factory owners are most concerned about
1. The number of people at the booth has been redistributed by algorithm. Do small and medium-sized factories still have a chance?
Yes, but in a different way. In the past, it relied on the location of the booth and on-site shouts, but now it relies on the integrity of the data and label matching before the exhibition. Among the 32,000 exhibitors, more than 11,000 were champions of specialization, innovation and individual events, indicating that professional small and medium-sized factories themselves are the main force of this exhibition. Writing product parameters, certification, production capacity, and minimum MOQ into structured data so that the system can understand you is more useful than printing more boxes of brochures.
2. My factory has not yet been equipped with AI. Will it be unable to receive customers?
Don't worry, but start moving. 64% of exhibitors have integrated the industrial Internet or AI into production and supply chains, a proportion that shows that it is becoming a basic configuration. There are two low-cost things to start: digitization of product data and the ability to quickly recalculate quotes and delivery dates. After these two things are done, you will not have to remain silent when customers mention system docking at the exhibition.
3. The exhibition budget is limited, so how can we spend it on a cutting edge?
Priority should be given to pre-exhibition rather than during exhibition. More than 210,000 buyers have completed pre-registration, which means that pre-exhibition targeted invitations and data access are the most easily wasted and amplified links. Divide the budget into three parts: pre-exhibition materials and invitations, in-exhibition samples and demonstrations, and post-exhibition follow-up response speed. Exhibitors contribute about 16% of the country's general trade exports, accounting for about 5% of the country's foreign trade companies. Being able to stand on this platform is a threshold in itself. Don't let follow-up after the exhibition delay you.
6. Conclusion and action recommendations
The 70th anniversary of the 140th Canton Fair has superimposed four first-time and record proportions of new products and green products. The direction is clear: the exhibition is moving from a crowd of people on-site matchmaking to pre-exhibition label matching and in-depth on-site docking. For factories, there are only three things that can be done-structure data, catch pre-registration traffic in advance, and prepare clear compliance standards. There is still time before the opening on October 15, but there is still time to start preparations now. If you want to evaluate your factory's overseas plans, you can contact Qihang AI (telephone 180-0327-6609).
This article was written by Qihang Zhilian Trade Research Institute, with a release date of September 24, 2026, and data as ofGeneral Administration of Customs of ChinaLatest release.
