Premier Li Qiang to Open 140th Canton Fair in Guangzhou

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the opening ceremony of the 140th China Import and Export Fair and deliver a keynote speech, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Monday, elevating this autumn’s Canton Fair into a top-level showcase of Beijing’s commitment to foreign trade.

The announcement was made by ministry spokesperson He Yadong, according to Xinhua News. The fair will run in Guangzhou from 15 October to 4 November 2026, held in three phases, with the opening ceremony on 15 October.

The event marks the 70th anniversary of the fair’s founding, a milestone that has drawn unusually high-level official participation. Li’s personal attendance and keynote signal that the leadership regards the exhibition—widely known at home as “China’s No. 1 Expo”—as a strategic instrument for stabilizing external demand as global trade frictions persist.

A Trade Showcase at a Turning Point

First held in 1957 and staged twice a year in Guangzhou ever since, the Canton Fair is China’s oldest and largest trade exhibition and the primary platform connecting Chinese exporters with international buyers. Its order flow is closely watched as a barometer of the country’s export outlook.

This session is among the largest on record. According to Guangzhou Daily, the fair will cover an exhibition area of about 1.55 million square meters, with more than 75,700 booths and roughly 32,000 exhibiting companies across 54 specialized zones. Products spanning service robots, smart healthcare, consumer drones, smart wearables and modular housing—described by organizers as representing “new quality productive forces”—will feature prominently across the three phases, themed around advanced manufacturing, quality home living and a better life.

The comparison point is a strong one. The spring session, the 139th fair, drew 314,000 overseas buyers from 220 countries and regions, a 1.1 percent increase over the prior session, according to the same report. That figure is likely to be a benchmark for the autumn event.

Guangzhou Mobilizes for ‘Canton Fair Time’

Host city Guangzhou has entered what local officials call “Canton Fair time,” coordinating customs, police, border inspection, firefighting and public transit agencies to manage what is expected to be a heavy influx of international visitors.

Guangzhou Customs issued 12 convenience measures for the fair on 9 October, while border inspection authorities introduced 16 service measures, including a dedicated zone for foreigners to obtain 240-hour temporary entry permits on arrival, per a Guangzhou Daily report. Police will operate a layered “three-ring, four-zone” security perimeter around the fairgrounds and, beginning 12 October, open temporary port visa services at the Pazhou and Nansha water ports for foreign buyers holding fair invitations.

The logistics have been building for weeks. The first batch of imported exhibits cleared customs at Nansha port on 27 September, and Baiyun International Airport handled an average of roughly 30,000 inbound passengers per day between 1 and 10 October—up about 24 percent year on year. Public bus operators have scheduled extra capacity for the expected 9–11 a.m. and 4–7 p.m. peaks around the complex in the Pazhou district.

Signal in a Difficult Trade Environment

The Premier’s keynote comes against a mixed global backdrop. Chinese exporters have faced tariff pressure from major markets and soft external demand, while Beijing has repeatedly stressed the need to stabilize foreign trade and attract foreign investment.

Guangdong, China’s top trading province and home to the fair, offers a case in point. Its foreign trade imports and exports reached 7.54 trillion yuan in the January–August period, up 21.7 percent year on year and accounting for 21.7 percent of the national total, with single-month volumes exceeding 1 trillion yuan in June, July and August.

Organizers have also leaned into technology as a narrative. Related programming includes an exchange session on artificial intelligence and robotics, reflecting a broader shift in China’s export mix from low-cost, high-volume goods toward higher-value, technology-driven products. For a fair founded on textiles and light manufactures seven decades ago, that pivot is itself a measure of how much the country’s trade profile has changed.

What to Watch

The immediate question is whether the high-level attention translates into order volume. Fair attendance and deal-making figures released after each phase are treated as an early read on the strength of China’s export orders for the coming months.

Beyond the numbers, Li’s speech will be parsed for any fresh signals on trade policy, market opening and support for exporters, particularly with regard to the technology sectors that organizers are promoting. For buyers and sellers converging on Pazhou, a slogan circulating in Chinese trade circles captures the mood: “Where the Canton Fair is, business is; confidence is.”

The fair’s first phase runs 15–19 October, with the remaining phases continuing through 4 November.