Some buyers are still in the early stages of exploring options.
Otodjo Folly Rene, from Folly Company in Tonga, said he attended the fair to better understand Chinese suppliers of electronics and machinery.
“China is a good country – and they offer better quality and cheap prices,” he said.
Economists said such smaller trial orders are becoming increasingly common.
Consumer goods orders are “more fragmented and smaller (in terms of portions) than before”, said Wang of Eurasia Group.
Global economic uncertainty has made importers more cautious about committing to large long-term contracts, said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis.
“Challenges in growth and inflation have made global importers more wary of long-term commitments,” he said, adding that buyers often start with trials before scaling up orders.
With such strong competition among Chinese exporters, overseas customers may also have greater bargaining power during these trial orders, he added.
CAN EMERGING MARKETS FILL THE GAP?
Ng from Natixis said trade surpluses with emerging markets have grown faster in recent years, but their overall demand still remains smaller than that of traditional Western markets.
The share of markets across Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East in China’s exports rose from 23.2 per cent in 2019 to 29.4 per cent in 2025, according to calculations by Natixis based on Chinese customs data.
He said this shift reflects a structural diversification of China’s trade partners.
But experts caution that these markets may struggle to fully replace the scale of demand once provided by the West.
“They are not large enough to fully offset markets such as the US and the EU,” Ng said.