Olivier Verot is the founder and CEO of GMA, a marketing agency based in Shanghai since 2012. He has walked the halls of SIAL, FHC and Canton Fair with dozens of food and beverage clients over the past decade.
As disposable incomes rise in China, so does the demand for foreign food products. This is still a huge opportunity for companies entering China’s food industry. China is one of the top food and beverage markets in the world, and the gap with the U.S. keeps narrowing.
Gaining market insight and building brand awareness before you sell a single unit is not optional. Partnering with an agent or distributor who understands local retail and e-commerce channels remains the safest way to enter. Attending a Chinese food and beverage trade fair is still one of the fastest ways to meet that partner. But the fairs have changed since we first wrote about them. Some doubled in size, one moved city, one changed name entirely. Here is where things stand in 2026.
Top 5 Food and Beverage Trade Fairs in China (2026 Update)
1. SIAL Shanghai
SIAL Shanghai still runs every May at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, and it is still the biggest food fair of its kind on the Mainland. The 2025 edition drew over 5,000 exhibitors from 75 countries and more than 180,000 professional visitors from 110 nations, spread across 200,000 square meters and roughly 350,000 products on display. SIAL Shanghai 2026 is scheduled for May 18-20.
The show still spans more than 20 categories: drinks, snacks, convenience foods, canned food, dairy, fresh foods, and equipment such as coolers and freezers. What did change is the organization south of Shanghai. After three editions in Shenzhen under the name SIAL in China South, the southern show moved again for 2026, this time to the Guangzhou Poly World Trade Center Expo, September 3-5. If your category sells better in the south, that is now your entry point instead of Shanghai.
SIAL still gives foreign brands the fastest way to read China’s market in three days: walk the aisles, talk to distributors, compare your price point to what is already selling. Comexposium, which also runs SIAL Paris, still organizes the Shanghai edition.
2. FHC Shanghai
The FHC Shanghai Global Food Trade Show now runs in November instead of the spring slot it used to hold. The 2025 edition (the 28th) took place November 12-14 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, covering 200,000 square meters with 2,800+ exhibitors (2,000 domestic, 870 international) and 173,143 visitors, including more than 50 international pavilions. It remains the widest-category show of the five: meat, seafood, dairy, bakery, condiments, coffee and tea, prefabricated dishes, and catering supply chains all sit under one roof.
FHC also still runs a services layer around the product floor: catering design, smart store concepts, food delivery chain products, and packaging. Two newer sections worth noting for 2026 planners: prefabricated dishes and central kitchen products, and a food-and-medicine crossover category, both added as Chinese retail chains push further into ready-to-eat and functional food.
FHC still gives international and local exhibitors a forum to discuss export logistics, and it still books more one-on-one meetings than most other China food fairs, thanks to its scale.
3. Anuga Select China (formerly ANUFOOD China Shenzhen)
ANUFOOD China renamed itself Anuga Select China in the past two years, keeping the same organizer, Koelnmesse, and the same home base in Shenzhen. It is still the largest food and beverage trade fair in Southern China. The 2025 edition ran April 24-26 with more than 800 exhibitors across 40,000 square meters, roughly double the floor space we reported in the previous version of this article. The 2026 edition is set for April 27-29 at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Centre, with organizers projecting over 35,000 professional visitors.
Categories cover meat, seafood, sweets and snacks, fine food, coffee and tea, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, dairy, and healthy food, the last one now a standing theme rather than a side note, alongside compound flavoring and sustainably packaged products.
Shenzhen buyers skew younger and more e-commerce-native than Shanghai buyers. If your brand already sells on Tmall or Douyin and you want offline distributor coverage for the Greater Bay Area, this is the more relevant of the two southern shows.
4. FMR China (Fresh Retail Food Materials Expo)
The show we described in the previous version of this article as “Food in Modern Retail” has since rebranded to FMR, the Retail Fresh Food Materials Expo, and moved its yearly slot to November, held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center rather than rotating cities. The 7th edition ran November 18-20, 2025, with 1,500 exhibitors on 70,000 square meters and 30,000 professional visitors from countries including Italy, Pakistan, Singapore, Germany and France.
It is still the only major China show built specifically around retailer sourcing of fresh food materials: meat and poultry, eggs, seafood, fruit and vegetables, dairy, bakery, and prepared meals. The matchmaking format, one-on-one meetings between exhibitors and retail buyers, is unchanged and remains the fair’s real selling point over general food shows.
Retailers still get a full buyer directory during the event. For fresh and chilled categories specifically, this fair converts to actual purchase orders faster than SIAL or FHC, because the audience is buyers, not browsers.
5. Food2China Expo Guangzhou (formerly IEF/IFE)
The Guangzhou import food fair we listed as IEF has since consolidated under the Food2China Expo banner at the Canton Fair Complex, still the largest exhibition venue in Asia. The 2026 edition runs September 10-12 in Area B, with 60,000 square meters, over 2,000 brands from more than 40 countries, and roughly 60,000 trade buyers expected. A separate, adjacent show, GZFOODEXPO, runs its 25th edition June 4-6, 2026, at the same complex, so Guangzhou now effectively offers two food fair windows per year instead of one.
Coverage still spans imported and packaged food, fruit and vegetables, agrifood and geographic-indication products, frozen meat, wine and spirits, coffee, tea, dairy, and seafood. VIP-tier brands still get scheduled supplier meetings during the show.
Beyond the Booth: Turning Fair Contacts Into Actual Distribution
Most foreign brands treat the fair as the finish line. It is the start line. We have watched clients collect 200 business cards over three days and convert exactly zero of them, because nobody followed up within the window that matters. Here is what actually turns a fair badge scan into a signed distributor.
Move contacts to WeChat before they leave your booth. A business card gets filed and forgotten. A WeChat QR code scanned on the spot gets a contact who can message you the same night. Set a rule with your team: every serious buyer conversation ends with a WeChat add, not a card exchange. Follow up within 48 hours with a short message in Chinese, not a PDF catalog nobody opens.
Turn the fair into Xiaohongshu content while it is happening. Chinese buyers and consumers research a brand on Xiaohongshu before they commit to anything, including a distribution deal. Post short video of your booth, your product being tasted, your team explaining the story, during the fair itself, not after. A distributor who searches your brand name on the way back to their office and finds nothing looks elsewhere. A distributor who finds three posts with real engagement takes your call.
Related read: our general guide to getting the most out of a China trade fair covers booth staffing and pre-show outreach in more detail. If your category leans industrial rather than F&B, see our piece on machinery exhibitions and B2B client sourcing in China.
Test-sell through cross-border e-commerce before you sign a national distributor. A fair contact who loves your product is not proof the mass market will buy it. Before committing to exclusive distribution terms, run a small CBEC batch on Tmall Global or a similar channel to see real conversion at a real price point in RMB. This also gives you a data-backed number to negotiate with when the distributor asks for exclusivity. We wrote a fuller breakdown of what changed in China’s 2026 CBEC rules if you plan to go this route.
One more thing worth knowing before you sign anything: distributors sometimes overreach once your product starts moving. We covered what to do if a distributor copies your product as a private label, a pattern that shows up more often in categories where the fair-to-contract cycle is fast and the paperwork is thin.
A case in point
A mid-size European olive oil brand came to us after two flat years exhibiting at FHC Shanghai with a standard booth and a stack of brochures. For the 2025 edition, we changed three things: a WeChat QR at every tasting station instead of business cards, four short Xiaohongshu videos posted during the three show days, and a small CBEC test batch launched on Tmall Global two weeks before the fair so we had real sales data to show buyers. By the close of the show, the brand had signed three regional distributor agreements covering six provinces, and its branded WeChat account had grown from under 200 followers to over 3,000, most of them added during the event itself. None of this required a bigger booth. It required treating the fair as a content and conversion event, not a static display.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which China food fair should a first-time exporter pick?
Start with SIAL Shanghai or FHC Shanghai. Both give the widest buyer base and the most international pavilions, so you can benchmark your price and packaging against dozens of comparable foreign brands in one visit. Save the regional shows, Anuga Select China, FMR, Food2China, for your second or third trip once you know which province you are targeting.
How much does a booth cost at these fairs?
A standard raw-space booth at SIAL or FHC typically runs from a few thousand to over ten thousand USD depending on size and location, before build-out, travel, and translation costs. Smaller regional shows like Anuga Select China or FMR are usually cheaper per square meter but reach a narrower, more local buyer pool.
Do I need a Chinese business entity to exhibit?
No. Most organizers accept foreign exhibitors directly or through an official agent, and many fairs run dedicated international pavilions with English-language support. You do need a local entity or distributor eventually to invoice and ship inside China, but not to book a booth.
How fast should I follow up with contacts made at a fair?
Within 48 hours, ideally same day for serious buyers. Chinese business culture moves fast on WeChat, and a contact who does not hear from you within two or three days assumes you were not serious and moves to the next booth on their list.
Is one fair enough to find a good distributor?
Rarely. Most of our clients need two to three fair cycles, sometimes across different shows, before signing a distributor they trust. Treat the first fair as market research and lead generation, not as the deal-closing event.
Contact Us to Enter One of China’s Food and Beverage Trade Shows
Exhibiting well in China is a full campaign, not a three-day trip. At GMA, we help food and beverage brands plan the booth, the WeChat and Xiaohongshu content around it, and the distributor follow-up that actually closes deals after the show ends.
We handle pre-show outreach to buyers, on-site content capture, and post-show CRM so contacts do not go cold. We also advise on CBEC test-selling when a distributor asks for proof before committing to exclusivity.
Contact us today to plan your next China food fair, from booth to signed distributor.
