The 2021 Shenzhen International Toy & Education Fair, or "Toy & Edu China 2021", will be held at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center from March 30 to April 1.

Jointly organized by the Guangdong Toy Association and Messe Frankfurt, the upcoming three-day event will become the world's first large toy industry expo of the year.

The Shenzhen International Stroller, Mother and Baby Product Fair, or "Baby & Stroller China 2021", will also be held, together with the Shenzhen International Licensing & Licensed Product Fair, or "Licensing China 2021", under the same roof.

Toy & Edu China 2020, held in Shenzhen for the first time in August 2020, witnesses the active attendance of exhibitors despite the COVID-19 pandemic. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

More than 1,400 firms will attend the three-day trade fair, launching tens of thousands of new products to the world, according to Li Zhuoming, chairman of the Guangdong Toy Association.

Li said that the expo will help to place toymakers in China more favorably in the "dual circulation" development initiative, particularly in the context of the side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the chairman, the global market will bring both opportunities and challenges this year for the toy industry in China.

"On the one hand, COVID-19 is disabling the production capacity of many toymakers outside China where industrial chains are not as well developed as in China, which means international orders, especially those for tech-intensive ones, have to turn to China's suppliers," Li explained. "But on the other hand, the pandemic is worsening the export of China's own toy brands, as international business exchanges have almost come to a halt."

He suggested that China's suppliers focus more on e-commerce for business development. Organizers will join hands with e-commerce service providers including eBay, Guangdong cross-border e-commerce and cross-border commodity trading associations, and the Shenzhen Cross-border E-commerce Development Promotion Council this year so that there will be a platform for exhibitors and e-commerce service providers to forge cooperative ties.

In 2020, Guangdong's toy exports via e-commerce surged 61.7 percent from 2019, accounting for 25.73 percent of the province's total toy exports, which in turn made up about 70 percent of the nation's total.

China's total toy exports stood at 231.73 billion yuan ($ 35.59 billion) in 2020, up 7.7 percent from 2019.