On 12 October 2026, Xinhua reported that Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said Premier Li Qiang will attend the opening ceremony and related events of the 140th Canton Fair and deliver a keynote speech. The fair is held in Guangzhou from 15 October to 4 November 2026.
Official scale: about 1.55 million square meters and more than 75,000 booths, with over 32,000 exhibitors (MOFCOM / Xinhua, Sep 2026). Earlier MOFCOM briefing said more than 11,000 are high-quality SRDI or segment-champion firms, and more than 210,000 overseas buyers had pre-registered by mid-September, with more expected closer to opening.
On 13 October, CCTV (via China News) said the session adds more than 50 service innovations: 70 badge points and 628 windows at airports, rail stations, the venue and designated hotels, with overseas buyers getting a badge in about 30 seconds after passport verification; first-time rollout of 22 smart scenarios and 16 AI tools, including booth-level navigation (about 1 m accuracy across 75,000+ booths), AR booth info, QR e-business cards and AI meeting notes. Guangzhou Metro will run a fair-specific timetable, about 9,000 gates will take international bank cards, and a pilot autonomous bus links nearby hotels, metro and venue gates.
Guangzhou Customs (9 Oct, China News) issued 12 facilitation measures, including on-site checks of inbound exhibits at the pavilion, support for agri-food exports, food and cosmetics inbound for display, retained-exhibit tax preferences, simplified departure tax-refund verification, and a batch inspection/quarantine pilot for exports. By 9 October, 10 batches of inbound exhibits had cleared via Nansha Port and Baiyun Airport.