Employees of a Nantong textile company promote their products at the 2020 Nantong Export Brand Online Fair (Nigeria-Textiles). [Photo/ntfabu.com]

The 2020 Nantong Export Brand Online Fair (Nigeria-Textiles) concluded on Sept 25, with a total of 147 Nigerian buyers taking part in 595 trade talks during the four-day event.

Companies based in Nantong have adopted advanced technology, such as 3D, big data and artificial intelligence to display their products and hold online negotiations.

The city's online trade demonstration center has given full play to its functions in technological support, videos examination and data collection.

"Our sales personnel used to go abroad to promote new products, which is impossible during the COVID-19 outbreak. And the online fair has solved the problem," said Wang Weiping, a senior executive of Jiangsu Sidefu Textile Co.

Many textile companies echoed Wang's sentiments, hailing the fair as an effective way to promote their products and explore new markets.

Nigeria is China's third largest trade partner in Africa. Bilateral trade volume was valued at $19.28 billion yuan in 2019.

From January to August, Nantong exported textile products and clothing worth $4.8 million to the country, which accounted for 10.1 percent of the city's total exports to Nigeria. Clothing exports were worth $505,000, 23.5 times more compared to the same period last year.

Officials said Nigeria, as the largest economy in Africa, has a huge demand in textile products and provides a large market for Nantong, a major textile production center in China.

Although the fair has ended, the online trade center will continue to hold exhibitions and business talks throughout the year to help increase the market share of Nantong's textile products in West Africa.

In the following months, more online export fairs featuring anti-epidemic supplies to Mexico, daily supplies to Hong Kong and more will be held.