The first phase of the 115th Canton Fair wound up on April 19, with a majority of export enterprises saying that the Canton Fair was and easier platform for receiving orders than exhibitions in either Beijing and Shanghai.

Compared to the last year, foreign buyers were more willing to make purchase this year. "The number of people who came here for business obviously increased this year," said Ying, manager of an electrical tools company in Zhejiang. "Last year, many buyers only asked the prices of the products and then went away. But this year, the number of those who were willing to talk about substantial business matters and to familiarize themselves with products’ functions increased."

For two or three years straight, sales figures for Ying’s company declined by about 30 percent. This year however, she expects to gain back a 5 to 10 percent increase in sales.

In recent years, as more and more cities in China focus on brining attention to their own trade exhibitions, the Canton Fair has held on to its status as the largest commercial exhibition in China. "We also took part in trade events in other cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but we often found that we could only examine products and technologies. At the Canton Fair, we have had many more opportunities to sit down and talk about making orders," Li Wenjian, brand manager of a famous home appliance manufacturer in Guangdong explained.

The number of buyers in the first four days of the current session increased by 9.8 percent compared with the official figure from the last Canton Fair. The turnover of mechanical and electrical products reached a total of USD 12.49 billion. As the main products featured in the first phase, the turnover of home appliances and consumer electronics exceeded 50 percent of the total. According to a sampling survey, over 60 percent of the exhibitors saw increases in their order numbers.