Key trade exhibition goes virtual

Each session attracts more than 24,000 domestic and overseas exhibitors and about 210,000 global buyers.

Fair shadowed by weak exports

Fair sees nearly 11% slump in deals

Liu Jianjun, spokesman for the China Import and Export Fair, said the e-commerce platform will help promote the fair's service to domestic and overseas exhibitors and buyers.

The value of transactions in the autumn session dropped 10.9 percent from the spring session to 194.6 billion yuan ($31.7 billion) mainly because of unstable global market demand and industrial competition.

"Booming e-commerce has also brought about huge challenges to the traditional trade models, such as the Canton Fair," Liu said.

The value of China's cross-border e-commerce, which is forecast to account for 20 percent of the country's total trade by 2016, will grow about 25 to 30 percent each year from 2013 to 2016, according to Liu.

"The e-commerce platform, which provides efficient online matchmaking services for domestic exporters and global buyers, is a major supplement to the traditional fair," Liu said.

The e-commerce service will help buyers and sellers transcend the limits of time and space that previously affected the fair, according to Liu.

Najah Arakkal, a buyer from India-based Provision General Trading Co, said the fair's online service is a welcome boost to efficiency.

"I looked for information on the e-commerce website since it was my first visit to the Canton Fair last year. I reached deals with a Chinese supplier after getting information online and visiting the supplier's factory," he said.

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