By Wu Xiaoyun

‘We did not expect that the number of potential customers at the Canton Fair exceeded our expectations. The purchaser from Sri Lanka expressed the desire to visit our factory on the spot.’ On 29th April, Zhang Zhou, the person in charge of Nantong Development Zone Xianghua Textile Weaving Co., Ltd., which just participated in phase 2 of the Canton Fair, said. The enterprise which works on hotel textile supply production, was forced to suspend orders worth tens of millions of yuan due to the addition of tariffs by the U.S. ‘Under the pressure, we tried to expand new markets through the Canton Fair for the first time. The result is pleasantly surprising.’

Phase 2 of the Canton Fair successfully concluded. Nantong foreign trade enterprises have actively adjusted their strategies and demonstrated strong market adaptability. The person in charge of Nantong Coner Import-Export Trade Co., Ltd. said that although orders from the US market decreased, demand from European customers grew against the trend.

‘At this fair, purchasers from "the Belt and Road" joint building countries have increased significantly.’ Yin Yuting, Deputy Director of the Foreign Trade Department of Nantong Bureau of Commerce, said that merchants from places including Australia, Turkey, Hungary, and Sri Lanka have a strong desire to negotiate and the scale of intended orders is considerable.