Canton Fair, a pillar for global trade, local suppliers

Suofeiya Home Collection, which builds custom cabinetries with matching accessories, plans to expand its business in emerging markets, supported by its domestic intelligent manufacturing.

"The strength in intelligent manufacturing, along with strong supply chains, will greatly enable us to deliver products and services more efficiently in overseas markets," said Jiang Hao, general manager of Suofeiya's manufacturing center.

Suofeiya established a fully intelligent manufacturing factory for custom furniture in 2018, achieving full-process informatization, digitization and intelligence from design to production and installation services.

"This breakthrough addresses common challenges in the custom home industry, such as high labor costs, low production efficiency, long supply cycles and unstable product quality," Jiang said.

The company, based in Guangzhou, has so far established five major intelligent factories nationwide, realizing the large-scale production of all categories of custom clothing, wardrobes, doors and wall cabinets in a one-stop customization process.

"The intelligent workshop has helped lead the industry's transformation from traditional manufacturing to high-tech service-oriented manufacturing," said Jiang.

The company has always been looking for overseas business partners, particularly from emerging markets, to develop its engineering operations and expand its retail channels, according to Jiang.

The company has developed 31 international distributors covering the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand and the Middle East, providing a one-stop soup to nuts customized solution.

In addition to looking for opportunities in emerging markets, Chinese companies also expect to expand their businesses in the domestic market, by leveraging the robust development of e-commerce.

Guangdong Linkfair Household Co, a joint-stock company established in 2014 in the stainless steel kitchenware and tableware industry, brought livestreaming into the fair's Pazhou Complex, with a bustling crowd of visitors at its booth and enthusiastic discussions with foreign buyers.

"We wanted to make domestic consumers intuitively feel that our products are selling hot globally," said Liang Jianxiu, general manager of the company's domestic marketing department.

In 2025, the company aims to achieve domestic market sales revenue of 400 million yuan ($55.3 million), more than double the previous year, according to Liang.

Chinese e-commerce platforms like JD and Meituan have also actively strengthened their cooperation with export-oriented enterprises to expand sales in the domestic market.

JD announced a 200 billion yuan "export-to-domestic sales policy "support plan during the fair, establishing a special project team for sales in the domestic market and providing end-to-end support for export-oriented companies.

Meituan, another leading e-commerce platform, held a special matching meeting during the fair, collaborating with over 100 foreign trade enterprises from industries such as seafood, vegetables, fruits, seasonings, snacks and beverages to expand their sales in the domestic market.