The forthcoming industrial expo 'Toy & Edu China 2020' is expected to help China's toymakers survive the market recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rescheduled to Aug 6-8 from early March, and held at Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center, China's leading international toy exhibition will attract over 1,300 firms, with numerous new arrays of toys on display.

Having been held annually in Guangzhou for 31 years, the event will be held in Shenzhen from this year on, and has also been renamed the Shenzhen International Toy and Education Fair.

The Toy & Edu China 2019, held in Guangzhou in April 2019, attracts more than 1,100 exhibitors. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Many toymakers in China are worrying about business decline," said Li Zhuoming, chairman of the Guangdong Toy Association, which co-organizes the event with Messe Frankfurt, citing the findings of a recent survey. "They are pinning their hopes on the toy event for new orders to survive the bleak winter of the toy market at home and abroad."

According to Li, 63.6 percent of some 100 toy firms in Guangdong that the association surveyed earlier this month were in want of more business orders, and they needed at least 30 percent more orders to maintain their normal operations.

"As Guangdong's toy production capacity makes up about 70 percent of the nation's total, the findings speak much for the worsening market situation," Li noted.

Being China's major base for the manufacture and export of toys, Guangdong posted $21.51 billion worth of toy exports in 2019, accounting for 69.1 percent of China's total.

A foreign buyer talks business at the Toy & Edu China 2019. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Li said that the organizers of this year's event will highlight e-commerce and an unprecedented number of e-commerce firms - including those involved in cross-border e-commerce - will be present at the three-day event.

"E-commerce was less affected or even saw a sales surge during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. That's why we've geared up efforts to invite e-commerce firms to the event when traditional sales channels do not work so well," Li said, adding that several supplementary seminars and promotions focusing on e-commerce will be available for both exhibitors and e-commerce firms.