On December 5th, the 27th China (Hainan) International Winter Trade Fair for Tropical Agricultural Products (hereinafter referred to as the Winter Trade Fair) opened at Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center. Since 1998, the Winter Trade Fair has been successfully held for 26 consecutive years, gradually becoming an important symbol of the high-quality development of tropical, featured and efficient agriculture in Hainan Province.

In this year’s Winter Trade Fair, Vietnam served as the guest-of-honor country, and Hunan served as the guest-of-honor province. At the invitation of the Winter Trade Fair Organizing Committee, Provincial Governor Liu Xiaoming, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Provincial People's Congress Guo Jianchun, Vice Governor of the Provincial Government Li Feng, Vice Chairman of the Provincial CPPCC Xiao Yingzi and some other provincial leaders attended the opening of this Winter Trade Fair and toured the exhibition. They visited the exhibition areas of the full industry chain of tropical featured and efficient agriculture, branded enterprises, smart agriculture, city/county-level regional public brands, international competitive products and selected cooperative products, and had an in-depth understanding of the achievements in Hainan’s development of tropical agriculture, technological innovation, brand building and international exchange and cooperation. The leaders also communicated with exhibitors and buyers, listened to their opinions and suggestions, invited them to bring more exhibits next year, and encouraged them to make full use of the policies of Hainan Free Trade Port to invest and start businesses in Hainan and explore new development opportunities together.

Themed on “Focus on selected agricultural products and share business opportunities of free trade”, this Winter Trade Fair covered an exhibition area of over 80,000 square meters, having attracted 2,200 exhibitors to showcase tens of thousands of fine agricultural products. It exhibited tropical fruits like durian, dragon fruit, honeydew melon, mango, and pineapple; high-grade fruits, such as finger lime, chocolate pudding fruit, duku, and ice cream fruit; fingerlings and seafoods like whiteleg shrimp, prawn, giant freshwater prawn, golden pomfret, and Hainan tilapia; tropical cash crops, such as coffee, tea, and pepper; livestock and poultry products, such as Wenchang chicken, wagyu beef, antibiotic-free pork, and naturally selenium-enriched egg. The exhibition area of smart agriculture also became a frontier for technological innovation, showcasing new planting and breeding techniques, intelligent agricultural equipment, efficient agricultural product processing technologies, intelligent irrigation systems, and agricultural product traceability technology, etc.

To fully leverage the platform effect of the Winter Trade Fair and enhance the high-efficiency and high-quality matching and cooperation of high-quality resources on agricultural product supply and demand, a production and sales matching area had been set up on the site for one-on-one negotiations between buyer and seller. At the site, many domestic and international buyers, such as Qingdao Gogogruits, Wuhan Baishazhou Agricultural and Sideline Products Market, Guangzhou Jiangnan Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market, Beijing Xinfadi, Beijing Agricultural Supply and Circulation, Beijing Shuitun Market, Fujian Qirun, as well as from South Korea, Russia and Singapore, engaged in one-on-one negotiations with some Hainan’s high-quality agricultural product enterprises that were specialized in tropical fruits, winter vegetables, coffee, latex, pepper, seafood, cherry tomatoes, Wenchang chicken and special pigs, to further expand sales channels for agricultural products and build a bridge for trade cooperation between suppliers and demanders.

This year’s Winter Trade Fair invited Vietnam as the guest-of-honor country, and gathered together the representatives from more than 10 countries such as Mongolia, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Georgia, Cambodia, Laos, Cyprus, South Korea, Russia and Singapore, as well as more than 50 representatives from international organizations, who had brought the high-quality featured agricultural products such as nuts, coffee, African dried chili peppers, chocolate, tea, rice, butter and cheese from various countries and regions. And representatives from different countries also engaged in in-depth exchanges with the exhibitors from Hainan and aligned their purchase demands, further deepening the exchange and cooperation between countries, and highlighting the advantages of Hainan Free Trade Port in expansion and openness.