So the first block of Canton Fair is out of the way and for those of you who didn’t get chance to visit I thought I would throw up some nice items I have come across while at the first 2 phases of this 2013 winter trade show.

Nothing amazingly ground-breaking seems to be at the show these days, I’m not sure what it is I’m expecting to find there while I wonder around in a dangerously low caffeinated state but I never seem to find anything I haven’t seen before. I think this is down to a lot of exhibitors now fearing competition seeing and then copying their latest innovation so they would rather not show it at all. Probably why we never see Apple exhibiting there I guess…..

Still you can’t really not go – perhaps through fear of missing a great product or maybe the glimmer of hope that someone has decided to open a pizza express franchise somewhere in the cavernous fair complex.

Jokes aside Canton Fair is without a doubt a great port of call for importers new and old and really you can’t knock the “All under one roof” factor of getting round so many products in one day. If your new to importing from China and looking for an easy way to learn the ropes then I would still recommend a visit here.

I can’t show you any products I am working on myself but I can show you some stuff that I think was pretty interesting in terms or margin and volume potential. Who knows, someone out there might see something they have been looking for?

Yes it’s true, there were 3 exhibitors touting full turn-key cement factory packages with a guaranteed operational facility erected on a plot of land of your choice in around 10 months. Probably an amazing potential for something like this in a developing economy especially one looking to expand its infrastructure. I have a good friend doing business in Tanzania, Tino if you read this then this one if for you, just don’t ask me for a loan.

Though a pretty crap pic from my newly workshy iPhone, I found this supplier offering faux leather corner sofa beds for 99 usd a unit in black or brown. I’m looking at making some very simple sofa beds in the future in our foam factory so have been looking around for simple designs to work with and spotted this. Really I don’t think you can go far wrong on an item like this and the quality was half decent. I’m a big fan of big bulky items that your average back room importer can’t handle as it means your competition is limited. Remember, where there is hassle there is money.

I have sold a lot of petrol machinery in the past and nestled outside among the Chinese Brand car section these rotorvator tillers have always been a good item. I have done chippers too which again carried low competition at the time, have a quick look on eBay and you will still see some great sales on these units, interestingly all on the same models.

I have some fond memories as a kid of weeks away in Cornwall packed into our families Conway trailer tent, this little number sure did bring a smile to my face. Realistically I’m not sure if there is a market for these in the UK but perhaps somewhere like Australia ? I don’t know but this was a great unit and they were asking just 2000 usd. I am half tempted to take a chance on a container of these. It was well built with a double bed, tidy seating/dining area, pull out kitchenette and an awning included. I hope my dad doesn’t see this.

If lottery winners could open a company in China would this be the result? Clearly with a lot of money invested this company had 4 models of this electric car on display which really begs the question of where did they plan on selling them. They were priced at 2600 usd a unit which in fairness is not a lot of money for a brand new car, maybe I’m missing something? I would genuinely be interested to know if they sold any as there were certainly a lot of people hovering about the stand. Did you order some? What’s the 0-60? So many questions.

If you’re the buyer for Halfords please buy this lock. Its genuinely great. It combines a front LED light and a U Lock shaped rear LED light to make a light system that works really well and can then be quick release lock removed to assemble into a tough u lock. The front pod is complete with a bar mount and the rear unit has a slick little seat post mount. I have not seen one before and even though the factory claims they invented it its likely a rip off from the 1800’s but it is actually a good product that I think could get a lot of traction amongst urban commuters.

As this blog post takes a dangerous veer towards my love of bikes I will just share this BMX that I found. It’s a pretty good looking street bike in a style that is right on trend. The factory had a few models but this exact one would be a great item to be selling in the run up to Christmas. Even on the dreaded eBay there doing 130 gbp for similar “unbranded” models and this one could be yours for 80 usd. There is a market there I’m sure.

If there is an award for least appealing booth then these guys may just have taken it, so unappealing in fact that there were no staff there to answer my request for Methylamine. Little did they know that their humble booth would reach the glamorous heights of my blog.

This was actually my first time paying much attention to the chemicals section of the fair as I was looking for a couple of adhesives for our underlay factory. It was in fact as boring as it sounds but frankly I would guess It’s where all the real money is made. I learnt, for instance, that someone could make a bunch of money if they imported a couple of certain adhesives into the UK.

Wild horses had to drag me away from this booth. For the first time in my life I almost made an on the spot purchase at a trade show. What we are looking at here is the business end of a PVC pipe production line and as soon as I caught a glimpse of its little mouth spitting out lengths of white pipe I was sold. Before moving to China I renovated a House back in England and being the easy life adverse person I am I decided to do the majority of the work myself. Most memorable of which was the Sunday afternoons sat on the bathroom floor wondering exactly who John Guest was and just how much money he was making from his range of speedfit pipe.

Those of you who are sensible enough to actually pay a plumber to do your plumbing won’t know that pvc water pipe is actually pretty pricey for what it is (especially the John Guest stuff) and when completely plumbing out a house for water and central heating from head to toe you use miles of the stuff. This machine (though quite a bit bigger than what is shown in this picture) takes a hopper and forms new or recycled PVC beads into pipe of various thickness up to 40mm in diameter. So were talking water feed to water waste here. At 28k I really am thinking it would be a great unit to have sat in the corner of my factory just churning out the odd container. I just need someone who wants to buy some pipe.

I don’t know, its apparently advertising a furniture company but I’m not really sure what message its putting out there. Still, it got a lot of attention which I’m sure was worth the 2-3000 usd per m2 that this floor space likely cost.

So there you go, a compilation of arguably useless information but information none the less. There are a couple of items there that could make someone some money if they decided to import them I’m sure. I don’t know if anyone out there has any questions or is looking for advice about visiting Canton Fair but just ask below and i will be happy to help.

If any of you are around for phase 3 give me a call, ill we wondering about the halls and now having found the new Starbucks in B Building -1 I’m suitably re caffeinated.