The East China Fair (hereinafter referred to as "ECF") is the largest import and export trade fair in China with regards to textiles, apparel, and lighting equipment. It is jointly sponsored by nine provinces and cities, including Shanghai, Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province, Anhui province, Fujian province, Jiangxi province, Shandong province, Nanjing city, and Ningbo city.
Since its establishment in 1991, the ECF has adhered to the direction of professionalization, market orientation, and internationalization in organizing exhibitions. It has continuously optimized its exhibition mechanism, improved its exhibition layout, expanded into diverse international markets, and after more than 30 years of development, it has gradually grown into an important international trade event with significant influence, second only to the Canton Fair.
Basic Information of the 32nd ECF
The 32nd ECF is scheduled to be held from March 1 to 4, 2024, at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. This year’s fair has an area of 126,500 square meters, indicating an increase of 21,300 square meters from the previous edition.
It will feature four specialized sub-exhibitions, including Clothing and Apparel, Textile Fabrics, Household Products, and Decorative Gifts, along with dedicated areas for overseas and cross-border e-commerce. With 5,720 booths across 11 halls, this year’s fair has confirmed the participation of 3,422 companies, including 326 overseas exhibitors from 13 countries and regions.
In addition to the exhibition, this year’s ECF will also host an opening forum and a high-level forum on cross-border e-commerce on March 1.
The opening forum will have the theme "Focusing on quality upgrades and making solid progress in the high-quality development of foreign trade". It has invited representatives from various government departments responsible for commerce, domestic and foreign business associations, industry leaders, and senior experts and scholars to come together and discuss a variety of topics. These topics include global supply chain adjustments, the development of China's foreign trade, the enhancement of pilot free trade zones, high-level opening-up, green trade, and digital trade.
The event's forum on cross-border e-commerce will focus on benchmarking international high standards in economic and trade regulations to promote the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce. This forum will pool wisdom for the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce under the current and forecasted economic and trade situation.
Key Highlights of the 32nd ECF
1. Showcasing Innovations in Foreign Trade
The ECF, as an important window to showcase the transformation, innovation, and brand development in China's foreign trade, is also an important platform to demonstrate new drivers of foreign trade development.
This year's ECF has attracted many outstanding companies to participate, bringing together a large number of innovative and high-quality products.
For example, in the Clothing and Apparel Exhibition, High Hope International Group's Jiangsu Champion Holding Ltd will showcase its "Rishikensh" brand for the first time at this ECF. This outdoor women's apparel line was created with GRS recycled fiber fabric that is not only rainproof, but is also warm, soft, and fits well with the current trend of green consumption. This product line is expected to be favored by high-end markets, such as Japan and South Korea.
In the Decorative Gifts Exhibition, Ningbo Suntime Garden Furniture Co Ltd will launch a new product—a detachable double sofa. This product is characterized by its portability and its thick and durable cotton cover, which allow for easy outdoor use.
In the Household Products Exhibition, Hangzhou Hisazumi Holdings Co Ltd, a time-honored foreign trade company in China, will exhibit products such as pregnancy pillows that can be used as anti-rolling and anti-fall beds for infants. Such products emphasize convenience, flexibility, and multifunctionality.
In order to encourage and support more foreign trade enterprises to continuously innovate, the ECF unveiled the Product Innovation Award during its 22nd edition. This is also an important part of the event, as it has been highly praised and deemed as important by all parties.
This year's ECF has continued its evaluation, selecting 47 innovative products. This year’s winner will be announced at the opening forum.
The ECF Product Innovation Award, whether in terms of the product’s technical content, ability to expand in overseas markets, innovation in the transfer of exports to domestic sales, or innovation in services and modes, is demonstrative and pioneering. It has helped establish a group of foreign trade brands that are technologically strong, service-oriented, of high quality, and innovative. Through this award, new drivers of China's foreign trade development have been identified, while also highlighting the resilience, vitality, and competitiveness of China's foreign trade development.
2. Facilitating Business Opportunities
As a heavyweight professional exhibition with international influence, the ECF plays an important role in providing a platform for various exhibitors and buyers to deepen exchanges, facilitate procurement, and promote cooperation. The 32nd ECF continues to focus on deepening the connection between supply and demand, exploring multiple channels and methods for communication and maximizing new business opportunities.
On one hand, the ECF has involved companies in various promotion activities through various channels during its promotion process. For example, the ECF has invited exhibitors to participate in various domestically-held promotion activities, as well as held promotion events in countries such as South Korea, Japan, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, the ECF has utilized its official website, WeChat, Douyin, and other overseas social media platforms in order to promote the event and news related to it. The ECF has also focused on releasing in-depth articles through the "Pearls on the Chain" column of the ECF's official WeChat account in order to put a spotlight on its outstanding exhibitors and quality products.
On the other hand, in order to better serve participating companies and improve their transaction efficiency, this year's ECF plans to set up a procurement matchmaking area in Hall W4 in the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. This will provide a platform for communication between buyers and exhibitors. This includes six "face-to-face" matchmaking sessions and a new "hall-to-hall" matchmaking session, where staff will lead buyers to exhibition booths for on-site negotiations.
3. Expanding Domestic and International Networks
This year's ECF will increase its efforts in attracting investment and exhibitors by cooperating with more countries and a wider variety of overseas institutions. This will further expand the ECF's network of friends and broaden its investment attraction channels.
Firstly, it actively promoted itself overseas during the preparation period, visiting Seoul in South Korea, Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Tokyo in Japan, in order to boost global investment.
Secondly, the ECF conducted promotional events in domestic locations such as Keqiao, where it invited 133 buyers, and Yiwu, where it invited 189 buyers to attend.
Thirdly, the ECF actively engaged with overseas trade organizations with local branches in China, such as the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the Shanghai Office of the South-South Cooperation Promotion Association of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the China-Britain Business Council, the Japan External Trade Organization, the Korea International Trade Association, and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce. It also expanded its domestic network by actively engaging with the Shanghai Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, the Shanghai Industrial Cooperation Association, and the Shanghai Business Federation.
4. Embracing Digital Transformation
In order to better coordinate the organization and promotion of the ECF, as well as to amplify its brand effect and influence, a "publicity matrix" that covers both domestic and international channels has been constructed.
The official website has increased its publicity density, and the ECF's WeChat subscription account has been upgraded. Additionally, the ECF has further increased its exposure on all social media platforms, both foreign and domestic. Through new media, multiple channels, and high-frequency promotion, the ECF aims to continuously expand its global brand influence.
In addition to the ECF's own innovative application of digital technology, cross-border e-commerce remains a major highlight of this year's event. The ECF will continue to comprehensively showcase new drivers and achievements in the development of cross-border e-commerce, providing a comprehensive view of new trends related to China's foreign trade transformation and digital empowerment.
The Cross-border E-commerce Exhibition of this year's ECF will be set up in Hall W4, with classifications including cross-border e-commerce platforms and self-built sites, cross-border e-commerce service providers, cross-border e-commerce parks, and the industrial chain of cross-border e-commerce innovation fields. Additionally, this exhibition area will also host sharing sessions, matchmaking sessions, and exchange meetings, in order to provide new channels for more domestic products to go global, while also ensuring that high-quality foreign products enter the domestic market.
