34th East China Fair Spotlights Trade Innovation, Agility

The 34th East China Fair, China's largest regional import and export trade exhibition focused on commodities and textiles, is now on at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. Running through Wednesday, the event serves as a major platform for companies aiming to seize new global opportunities and drive high-quality development in foreign trade.

Making its debut in 1991, the fair has grown into one of the country's most significant regional international trade events, recognized for its massive scale, high volume of participating merchants, and record-setting turnover. This year's exhibition is structured around four professional sub-exhibitions – garments, textiles, home products and decorations and gifts.

The event has drawn 3,325 companies, including 375 overseas exhibitors from 14 countries and regions. Organizers expect to welcome over 46,000 domestic and international buyers across the four-day event.

For many exhibitors, the fair represents an opportunity to showcase resilience and strategic pivots following a volatile economic period. Linhai Lelin Houseware Co Ltd, a company specializing in storage products, exemplifies this adaptability.

"Over the past five years, we have faced the dual pressures of the pandemic and global tariff hikes," said Jessica Yan, foreign trade manager of the company. "While tariff increases two years ago dealt a heavy blow to our traditional B2B operations, we successfully navigated the crisis by transitioning into a supplier for cross-border e-commerce."

Yan added that Linhai Lelin adapted to shifts in post-pandemic global procurement habits, specifically a move away from bulk cargo toward a focus on the volume of individual items. By adding foldable and stackable features, the Taizhou, Zhejiang Province-based firm has been able to drastically compress logistics costs.

"We use the 'small, fast and flexible' approach," she noted. "We partner deeply with clients who supply direct market data and consumer trend preferences and manage the targeted design and production. This model ensures that orders are essentially secured the moment a new product mold is cast."

A good part of the buyers to the fair are from Japan and South Korea. Despite the current tense ties between China and Japan, Japanese buyers are still seeking domestic partners as they rely on China for most commodities.

"We run fair-price shops in Japan and to be honest, almost all our products are from China," said Masashi Sadahisa, manager of Shinnichi Trust, a trading company based in Osaka.

"We have been worried whether there would be export restrictions from the Chinese government, but so far so good. And we'd like to see if we can find new partners to provide goods suitable for our shops."