After two postponements due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the 102nd edition of the China Food & Drinks Fair (CFDF) will now be held online from 28 to 30 July.

As one of the major wine fairs in China, the spring edition of CFDF was initially due to be held this March. Although the organisers tried to resume the fair in May, due to the ever-changing pandemic situation and official regulations, they decided to postpone it again.

Further to the launch of “China Food & Drinks Fair cloud exhibition platform”, a one-stop exhibition service and business matching mini program on WeChat, on 5 June COFCO, which CFDF belongs to, signed a partnership with Alibaba to co-create a cloud exhibition platform for CFDF.

In the statement issued by CFDF read: “The organiser will work with Alibaba Group to make full use of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other technologies to establish a cloud exhibition platform that integrates online display, business matching, live broadcast marketing, and interactive negotiations.”

On top of CFDF, both parties will step up their partnership by exploring channels such as dedicated e-shop on Taobao, live broadcast events, night economy associated with the exhibition, financial services, logistics supply chain and so on.

Details of the online exhibition will be announced in due course and the organisers are looking forward to the active participation of local and overseas exhibitors and visitors, who will greatly benefit since travel restrictions are still in place in many countries due to the lockdown of borders. Meanwhile, the autumn edition of CFDF is scheduled to be held in Jinan in October this year.