When is the 138th Canton Fair?

The 138th Canton Fair takes place in October–November 2025 in Guangzhou, China.

• Phase 1: October 15–19 — electronics, home appliances, lighting, hardware, auto parts
• Phase 2: October 23–27 — home decor, gifts, kitchenware, furniture, building materials
• Phase 3: October 31–November 4 — textiles, apparel, footwear, bags, health products, toys, office supplies
• Booth swap: October 20–22 & October 28–30

Our tip: Phase 1 and Phase 3 get the most overseas traffic; Phase 2 is a hidden gem for home & gift buyers.

Why is the Canton Fair so important that buyers come every single year?

Canton is the NO.1 big and Professional Fair. It was built in 1957 and has 68 68-year history. If you can only attend one Fair, it is the Canton fair. Alibaba is famous for online, and the Canton fair is for offline.

• One‑stop sourcing: you can easily find a very professional and trustworthy supplier at one Canton Fair. In China, attending the Canton Fair is not that easy; you need a high yearly revenue to apply for the Canton Fair. You can find your nich and catergory and meet all souring in one place
• Factory‑direct pricing: Don’t like Alibaba, 10 suppliers, 5 suppliers may trade business. Most exhibitors are manufacturers. At the same time, it is not a guarantee. Still need full experience to find the real manufacturer.
• Identify early trends: Find the new products, new technology, new supplier, new friends, New service, new opportunity, spot new products months ahead of the market. You may not find some really new products, while keeping in trends is super important. You cannot feel the trends in your office by searching on Alibaba or Google, even with ChatGPT.
• Hands‑on quality check: China is a super competitive market. The good point is that you can get a really low price, while the harmful impact is that the item looks the same online and in pictures, but the material, size, inside battery, motor, and battery level are all different.
• Meet your supplier face-to-face: you are doing business with a real person, so meet them, have dinner with them, and drink with them. Visit their showroom and factory, you will find some really new products, and get a long-term cooperation partner. Compare their sample products with 2-3 suppliers that meet them, ask them the same core questions, and tech questions, and you will be half-pro on this category.

What Products Will Be Exhibited?

Phase 1 — Electronics & Industrial

• Consumer electronics & IT
• Home appliances
• Auto parts
• Lighting
• Tools & hardware

Phase 2 — Home & Gifts

• Daily-use ceramics, glassware, crafts
• Home decor & furniture
• Kitchen supplies
• Festival items & gifts
• Building materials & sanitary equipment

Phase 3 — Textiles & Lifestyle

• Apparel (men’s, women’s, kids’), accessories
• Textiles, leather, footwear, bags
• Sports & outdoor; office supplies; toys
• Medical & health products
• Pet supplies & personal care

What is the sourcing process at the Canton Fair?

Before answering this, what’s your Goal? Find new products for the latest product line, and optimize the lowest price for current products? Let’s see what the standard process is for your whole sourcing trip at the Canton Fair.

1) Pre‑fair Registration & Planning

• First, we need official registration & buyer badge application.

You can also get it done online. Conton fair register.

Before we go Conton Fair, change one nice shoes and a comfortable pair, since you will walk the whole day.

• How to get there?  If you can use Google, you can Google Canton Fair or Pazhou. If you can not use Google, download the VPN to use it, we recommend PGFONE and Astrill it is stable to use on China.

Subway Routes

Subway Line 8: Xingangdong Station (Zone A), Pazhou Station (Zone B/C)

Subway Line 11 (Pazhou Station): To Yuancun at 6:02 AM, To Chisha at

Airport Bus

Baiyun Airport to the Exhibition Centre: First bus at 9:00 AM, last bus at 4:00 PM; Exhibition Centre to the Airport: First bus at 11:00 AM, last bus at 6:00 PM.

• Hotel booking near Pazhou Complex; use Didi or metro to get there. 
• Daily planning based on your target categories
• Shortlist booths & suppliers to maximize each day on site
• Download WeChat, Alipay, and Didi. Here we also make a blog about 10 apps you need to download.

2) Accompany & Translation

If your English is good, it will be no problem, every Conton Fair supplier or seller can speak English. If you can not speak English, finding a translator will be a great option. It easily can be

• On‑site accompaniment: We will guide and company with you the whole fair trip.
• Business translation (EN ⇄ CN) to avoid misunderstandings, other languages also okay.
• Suppliers negotiate and compare suppliers to get the best price and low MOQ.
• Control and reduce the risk, Payment terms, check their business license, legal litigation records. Get Rich most important is not lose big money. 

Tips: do not take a lot of Paper catalogues, only take the really important supplier paper catalogues, for other suppliers, the digital e-catalogue is fine. Use WeChat to add them and let them send the e-catalogue via WeChat.

3) Sample & Follow‑up

• Collet sample and name card and categories, just follow last tips do not bring a lot paper work, and for sample, only buy and carry some important sample, since your luggage is limit, For the left sample, you can ask supplier send to your offical, if you have different supplier need to same and want to save cost, you can use the consolication shipping service.
• Sample check, check sample quality, send video, and then ship the sample to you. Advice the tracking code and follow up the shipping.

4) Factory Audit & Inspection

• Factory audit checks on shortlisted suppliers, we will source from Alibaba, Canton Fair, 1688, and local fair to cross-compare to get a better price.
• We will go to the factory to check their production capacity, their office, and ask questions for their staff. Check the QC process and certificates.
• How to reduce risk, we will take before production sample video and pictures and after production, but before shipment, bulk order production video for approval to ship it out.

5) Arrange shipment and prepare the documents for shipping

• Prepare the Commercial invoice, Packing list, and CO. From F, CE for customer clearance.
• Arrange the shipping; we can ship by sea, by air, by express, use EXW, FOB, DDP, or a consolidation shipping service. FCL and LCL both okay.

Canton Fair 2025 Schedule (Quick Table)