CIIE 2026: The Complete Guide to Dates, Registration, Exhibiting & What to Expect

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Quick Answer: When is CIIE 2026 and what is it? The 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) runs Thursday November 5 to Tuesday November 10, 2026 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) in the Hongqiao business district. It is a government-hosted import expo: overseas companies show goods, technology and services to Chinese buyers, alongside a Country Exhibition of national pavilions and the Hongqiao International Economic Forum. There is no on-site registration. Individual visitors can come only on November 8, 9 or 10, for 50 yuan per person per day, and must register by October 20 (Beijing time). According to the organizer, the 2025 edition recorded 922,000 visits, 4,108 exhibiting companies from 138 countries and regions, and tentative deals of roughly $83.49 billion (intended one-year deals, not completed sales).

CIIE is not a show you can decide to attend the week before. Every badge is issued in advance to a named person after review. For individual visitors and media the online deadline is October 20, two weeks after this guide is published, and individual visitors must pay by October 23. The organizer had not published a 2026 cut-off for professional visitors as of October 5.

This guide covers which badge route fits you, how the six exhibition areas are laid out, what the organizer charges for booths, the visa and transport basics, and what else is on in Shanghai and Guangzhou around the same dates. Rules and figures come from the organizer's site at ciie.org and the Shanghai municipal government's English portal, checked on October 5, 2026. For the structured listing, see our CIIE 2026 show page.

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1. What CIIE Actually Is

CIIE describes itself as the world's first national-level import-focused expo. It was announced by President Xi Jinping in May 2017 and has been held every November in Shanghai since 2018. It is hosted by China's Ministry of Commerce and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and organized by the China International Import Expo Bureau with the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. International partners listed on the 2026 pages include the WTO, UNDP, UNCTAD, FAO, UNIDO and the International Trade Centre.

The event has five parts, according to the organizer's 2026 exhibitor invitation:

• The Enterprise & Business Exhibition - the commercial floor, where overseas companies sell imported products, technologies and services into China.
• The Country Exhibition - national pavilions focused on trade, investment and tourism promotion. In 2025 it covered 30,000 square meters and drew 67 countries, regions and international organizations.
• The Hongqiao International Economic Forum (HQF) - the policy conference that opens alongside the expo.
• Supporting events - matchmaking sessions, buyer selection events and product launches.
• People-to-people exchange programs - a cultural exchange area, which the organizer put at 38,000 square meters in 2025.

The buyers come in organized groups. The organizer reported 43 trade missions and more than 700 sub-missions in 2025. According to the organizer's FAQ, delegations are organized by provinces and regions, central state-owned enterprises and other bodies, and include buyers alongside government and industry professionals.

Confirmed 2026 exhibitors in the organizer's online exhibitor list, checked on October 5, include Bayer (Germany, Medical Equipment & Healthcare Products, booth 1.1A3-03), Mephisto (France, Consumer Goods, 6.2C1-04), Pharmatech (Norway, health supplements, 1.2A4-02), Natsana (Germany, supplements, 1.2B7-10) and Karex Industries (Malaysia, Consumer Goods, 6.1A1-07).

How 2026 is shaping up

At the 100-day mark on July 27, 2026, a CGTN report reposted by the organizer said 53 countries and 3 international organizations had confirmed national pavilions, with Romania, Moldova and UNDP taking part for the first time. More than 1,200 companies from 99 countries and regions had confirmed Business Exhibition space by then, including 265 Fortune Global 500 companies, and 169 companies and 30 international organizations were returning for a ninth consecutive year. The same report said the United States had the largest exhibition area of any foreign country. These were interim numbers in July, so treat them as progress figures, not final totals.

2. Dates & the Six-Day Shape

Daily opening hours were not published on the organizer's English site as of October 5. Check the CIIE app or your badge confirmation before you plan meetings.

The key scheduling fact is that individual visitor badges are valid only on November 8, 9 and 10. Professional visitors in trade delegations, exhibitors and invited buyers can attend across the run. If your goal is meetings with buyers rather than browsing, plan around that and book appointments through the matchmaking platform (see section 4).

The six days run Thursday to Tuesday, across a weekend. In 2024 the organizer closed the venue grounds to anyone without a valid badge from October 25 to November 12 for security, and set up a Registration and Badge Management Center at the QUBE Hotel Shanghai Hongqiao. The organizer had not published its 2026 badge and security notice as of October 5, so check for it before you travel.

3. Registration: Which Badge Do You Need?

No one gets in without a pre-registered, named badge, and there is no on-site registration. The visitor registration page offers several routes: professional visitors registering through an institution, invited individual visitors, and individual visitors. Here is how they differ, using the organizer's notices and the Shanghai government's published rules, checked on October 5, 2026.

Individual visitors (the public route). For people who are not part of a trade delegation and are not registering through an organization.

• Dates: November 8, 9 or 10 only. You choose your day when registering, and daily quotas are first-come, first-served.
• Fee: 50 yuan (about $7.46) per person per day, described as a badge service fee.
• Deadlines: register by the end of October 20 and pay by the end of October 23, both Beijing time.
• Age: 14 and over.
• Channels: the CIIE website, the CIIE app or the WeChat mini program.
• Approval: registering and paying does not guarantee admission. Personal information is reviewed first.
• Delivery: badges are sent by courier, free of charge, and you must give a valid delivery address in mainland China that stays valid for six months. If you have no mainland address, this route will not work for you on its own; ask your delegation, a business contact in China or the organizer's hotline (+86-21-968888) about the professional or institutional routes.
• Refunds: once an application is approved, the badge goes into production. The fee can no longer be refunded and the name cannot be changed.
• Foreign nationals may register on this route, but it does not provide invitation letters. If you need an invitation letter for a visa, use the professional or institutional visitor route instead.

Professional visitors. Registration for domestic and overseas professional visitors opened on May 28, 2026, and the online matchmaking platform opened the same day. Previous professional visitors can use the one-click registration link emailed to them. Most professional visitors come through a trade delegation and register under it. The organizer had not posted a 2026 closing date for this route in its English notices as of October 5. In 2024, buyer registration closed on October 20. Confirm the 2026 date with your delegation or on the registration portal rather than relying on last year's.

Allow time for review. In its 2024 badge guidelines, the organizer said review usually took about 7 days for domestic applicants and about 15 days for international applicants. Badges are tied to your real name and ID, and lending a badge is prohibited.

Media. Journalists register separately on the CIIE media portal, which is open from September 22 to October 20, 2026.

Exhibitor staff. Exhibitor badges come through the exhibitor's account. The organizer's FAQ says each booth includes a set number of badge places, and charges 200 yuan for each additional exhibitor badge.

4. The Six Exhibition Areas

The Business Exhibition covers more than 360,000 square meters in 2026, and companies in the same industry are grouped together. The halls, from the organizer's 2026 exhibitor invitation:

The Country Exhibition is in Hall 5.2, and the Hongqiao Forum uses Hall WH and 4.2, according to the organizer's site.

The medical area is themed "Healthy China, Healthy Life" and puts special emphasis on products for older people. The organizer also flagged the silver economy, pet products and self-care as new consumer trends at the 2025 edition.

Matchmaking and buyer events

The organizer runs an online matchmaking platform, open since May 28, where registered professional visitors can post procurement needs and see exhibitor information. On site, the organizer runs trade and investment matchmaking sessions, a VIP Buyer Selection Event and a cross-border e-commerce selection platform. In 2025 the organizer said the matchmaking event drew more than 5,000 companies and industrial parks, and centralized signing events produced nearly 600 agreements.

5. The Hongqiao International Economic Forum

The HQF is held alongside the expo, and its main forum doubles as the Opening Ceremony of CIIE. The 2026 theme is "Stability and Cooperation: Building an Open World Economy Together." The organizer has announced the main forum plus parallel sessions and closed-door meetings in five sections. It will publish two flagship reports: the World Openness Report 2026, with the latest World Openness Index, and a new Export-to-China Capacity Development Report. The Chinese edition of the World Trade Report 2026 will also be released at the forum.

Public registration for the 9th HQF opens on October 8, according to the organizer's September 24 notice. In 2025, the organizer said registrations passed 10,000 for the first time, across one main forum and 25 sub-forums.

HQF registration is separate from your exhibition badge, so register for both if you want to attend forum sessions.

6. The Numbers Behind the Expo

The organizer's figures for the 8th CIIE (2025), from its November 2025 closing release:

• 922,000 visits as of noon on November 10, up 8.2% year on year. The organizer reports this as visits, not as individual attendees.
• Registered visitors exceeding 460,000, up 7%.
• 4,108 companies from 138 countries and regions in the Business Exhibition, over 367,000 square meters.
• 290 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders.
• Tentative deals of roughly $83.49 billion, up 4.4%. These are intended deals on a one-year basis, as the organizer describes them, not signed or completed transactions.
• 461 new products, technologies and services launched, including 201 global debuts.

Rebooking starts at the show itself. By the close of the 2025 edition, companies had already reserved more than 80,000 square meters for 2026, according to the same release.

7. Exhibiting at CIIE

The usual application deadline has passed. The organizer's FAQ gives May 30 as the usual registration deadline for the November show, and by the 100-day mark in July more than 1,200 companies had confirmed space. If you want to exhibit in 2026, contact the organizer directly at exhibition@ciie.org and ask what is still possible. If you are planning for the 10th CIIE in November 2027, use the 2026 prices below as a starting point for your budget.

Who can exhibit. The Business Exhibition is for companies and institutions registered outside the customs territory of mainland China, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. A Chinese subsidiary, agent or partner can handle the paperwork with the overseas company's authorization, but the booth must be presented in the overseas company's name.

Two routes in:

1. Directly, by registering on ciie.org (Business Exhibition, Registration), by emailing exhibition@ciie.org, or by calling +86-21-968888.
2. Through a national or industry group pavilion run by one of the organizer's recognized partner organizations. The organizer lists them on its Exhibition Partners page.

Booth prices, from the 2026 exhibitor invitation:

Contracts for the two standard booth types signed before March 31, 2026 received a 10% discount. Check whether a similar early-booking discount applies for 2027.

A tax point worth knowing. Under a 2020 notice from China's Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs and State Taxation Administration, a reasonable quantity of imported exhibits sold during CIIE is exempt from import duties, import VAT and consumption tax. Ask the organizer's appointed freight forwarders how that applies to your products.

Questions to settle before you commit

• Which exhibition area and section will you be assigned to, and how close is it to the buyers you need?
• Does a national or industry pavilion from your country offer a lower total cost than booking directly once construction and services are included?
• Which trade delegations or buyer groups does the organizer expect in your category, and can you get matchmaking appointments before the show opens?
• How many staff badges come with your booth, and when does exhibitor badge registration close?
• Which official freight forwarder will handle temporary import of your exhibits, and what are their deadlines?
• If you plan to sell exhibits during the show, how does the tax exemption work for your product?

8. Getting There

Venue address: National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), 333 Songze Avenue, Qingpu District, Shanghai.

Metro. Lines 2 and 17 both stop at National Exhibition and Convention Center station, according to the organizer's 2024 transport Q&A. The venue is about 1.5 km from the Hongqiao Transportation Hub, which combines Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station.

Driving and taxis. In 2024 the organizer said there would be traffic restrictions around the venue and urged visitors to use public transport. Parking had to be reserved, and taxis could drop off only at set points. The 2026 arrangements had not been published as of October 5; check the "Shanghai Transportation" WeChat account for updates.

Visas. China's 240-hour visa-free transit policy lets citizens of 57 eligible countries stay up to 10 days without a visa if they are traveling on to a third country or region, according to the Shanghai government on August 20, 2026. Both Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao airports are designated ports of entry, and business visits are permitted under the policy. You need a passport valid for at least three months and a confirmed onward ticket to a third country. If you need a visa instead, remember that the individual visitor route does not provide invitation letters and needs a mainland China delivery address.

Hotels. In 2024 the organizer ran shuttle buses to hotel clusters in Beidi, Zhudi, Xujing and Jiuting, areas without a convenient metro station. A hotel near a Line 2 or Line 17 station avoids depending on shuttles.

Payment. For individual visitor badges, the registration portal accepts UnionPay, WeChat Pay and Alipay by QR code, and international cards (Visa, Mastercard, JCB and others) on desktop, according to the Shanghai government's 2025 guide. Set up a mobile payment app before you travel.

9. Planning Notes and Clashes

Key dates (Beijing time):

• October 8 - public registration opens for the Hongqiao Forum.
• October 20 - individual visitor registration closes; media registration closes. Professional visitor registration closed on this date in 2024; the 2026 date was not published as of October 5.
• October 23 - individual visitor payment deadline.
• November 5 - opening ceremony and HQF main forum.
• November 8-10 - individual visitor days.

Back-to-back with the Canton Fair. Canton Fair Autumn 2026 Phase 3 ends in Guangzhou on November 4, the day before CIIE opens. Buyers who source exports at Canton and want to see import categories at CIIE can do both in one trip. Our Canton Fair Autumn 2026 guide covers the three phases and badges.

Shanghai the following week. Several shows in our directory open in Shanghai on November 10, CIIE's final day, including ProWine Shanghai and the Shanghai Global Food Trade Show. Check the dates against each organizer's site before you book.

A note on the numbers. "Visits" (922,000) and "registered visitors" (exceeding 460,000) are different measures and should not be compared directly. The $83.49 billion figure is described by the organizer as tentative, intended deals. Interim 2026 figures quoted here come from the July 100-day press conference and may change before the show.

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FAQs

When is CIIE 2026? The 9th China International Import Expo runs from Thursday November 5 to Tuesday November 10, 2026 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai).

Can anyone attend CIIE? Anyone aged 14 or over can apply, but only for a badge registered in advance and approved after review. Individual visitors can attend on November 8, 9 or 10, daily quotas are limited and allocated first-come, first-served, and registering and paying does not guarantee admission. There is no on-site registration.

How much does a CIIE visitor badge cost? For individual visitors, the organizer charges a badge service fee of 50 yuan (about $7.46) per person per day. Once your application is approved the fee cannot be refunded and the badge cannot be transferred to another person.

What is the registration deadline for CIIE 2026? Individual visitors must register by the end of October 20, 2026 and pay by the end of October 23, Beijing time. Media registration also closes on October 20. The organizer had not published a 2026 deadline for professional visitors as of October 5; in 2024 it was October 20.

Can foreigners register as individual visitors? Yes, but badges are delivered by courier to a valid address in mainland China, and this route does not provide invitation letters. If you have no mainland address or need an invitation letter for a visa, ask about the professional or institutional visitor routes.

How big was CIIE 2025? According to the organizer, the 8th CIIE in 2025 recorded 922,000 visits and registered visitors exceeding 460,000. The Business Exhibition had 4,108 companies from 138 countries and regions, and tentative deals reached roughly $83.49 billion.

How much does it cost to exhibit at CIIE? The organizer's 2026 exhibitor invitation lists raw space at $330 per square meter (36 m² minimum), a 9 m² standard booth at $3,000, and a 4.5 m² standard booth in the Innovation Incubation Special Section at $450. Construction and services for raw space cost extra.

Can I still exhibit at CIIE 2026? The usual May 30 application deadline has passed, and more than 1,200 companies had confirmed space by July 2026. Contact the organizer at exhibition@ciie.org to ask what is still possible, or plan for the 10th CIIE in November 2027.

How do I get to the CIIE venue? Take Metro Line 2 or Line 17 to National Exhibition and Convention Center station. The venue is about 1.5 km from the Hongqiao Transportation Hub, which includes Hongqiao Airport and Hongqiao Railway Station. In past years the organizer has urged visitors to use public transport because of traffic restrictions around the venue.

Do I need a visa to attend CIIE? It depends on your passport. China's 240-hour visa-free transit policy covers citizens of 57 countries traveling on to a third country, with both Shanghai airports as designated entry ports. Otherwise you need a visa. Check current rules with your nearest Chinese embassy or consulate.