Intl tropical produce fair connects Hainan with world

Visitors flock to an exhibition zone of the 2020 China (Hainan) International Tropical Agricultural Products Winter Trade Fair in Haikou. [Photo by Li Hao/ Hainan Daily]

Since its inception in 1998, the China (Hainan) International Tropical Agricultural Products Winter Trade Fair has been held 23 times. It has seen an increasing amount of orders and transaction volume, becoming increasingly market-oriented.

More than 100 enterprises from around 30 countries and regions, as well as 2,000 domestic enterprises from 21 provinces signed up for this year's fair, with the total number of exhibitors exceeding 5,000.

The orders inked at this year's fair hit 61.64 billion yuan ($9.4 billion), while 68 agricultural investment projects worth 2.31 billion yuan were agreed to at the exhibition. There were 14 projects whose investment amount was over one billion yuan. By Dec 20, about 200,000 visits have been made to the fair. 

Fu Jidan, an agricultural entrepreneur who was born in the 1980s that was participating in the fair for the first time, said that he had signed an order worth more than 400,000 yuan with an Africa company to provide them with lychee.

With the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP),the fair will become highly international, offering more opportunities to young entrepreneurs in the country, Fu added.

Becoming more international has always been the goal of the fair, and with the construction of the Hainan FTP, cooperation between the Belt and Road countries will become more intensive, which will benefit exhibitors both at home and abroad.

While visitors flocked to the Belt and Road Exhibition Hall, in which various goods from around the world are on display, Daniel, a businessman from Congo, said that he had sold around 100 bags of coffee beans in the morning. It is the second time for him to take part in the trade fair and he noted that he is optimistic about the Chinese market.