The Zhejiang Jiaxing Export Commodities Online Fair was held in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province on June 23, Jiaxing Daily reported.

The fair is expected to include 14 exhibitions, with the first focusing on apparel exclusively for Japanese buyers, and will last for six days.

The online apparel exhibition was attended by 60 Japanese buyers and 60 of Jiaxing's foreign trade companies, and more than 150 matchmaking meetings will be held between Japanese and Chinese attendees.

Jiaxing chose to focus on Japan first because the country is its third largest export market, and Jiaxing has a large number of Japanese companies.

Statistics from the Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce showed that in 2019, Jiaxing traded 26.33 billion yuan ($3.73 billion) with Japan, including 15.46 billion yuan worth of exports.

In the first five months of this year, Jiaxing exported 5.86 billion yuan worth of commodities to Japan, a year-on-year increase of 4.7 percent.

Li Mingquan, director of the Jiaxing bureau, said that apparel has traditionally been the city's major export commodity and accounted for 12.2 percent of its total exports in 2019.

However, due to the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak earlier this year, Jiaxing's apparel exports saw a 14.9 percent decrease in the first five months to 5.96 billion yuan.

To help local foreign trade companies overcome difficulties, the Jiaxing Municipal Bureau of Commerce cooperated with Zhejiang Broad International Convention & Exhibition Co Ltd to organize the online trade fair and help them expand markets and receive orders online.

Jiaxing holds an online fair to help local foreign trade companies expand their markets. [Photo/WeChat account: jxfabu]