The geographical and natural characteristics of Weihai make it an excellent region for apple production. The Chinese apple production is now in a critical phase of transferring between traditional production and modern production. In several areas, improvements have to be made, such as the apple cultivation system, the sprout breeding system, and the soil management, in order to be on the same level as the international apple producers.
During this fair, the international exhibitors, visitors and experts came from all over the world. 50% of the exhibitors came from abroad, from ten different countries, including Belgium, Germany, Italy and Korea.
The industry experts appear to have different opinions of this fair. A supplier of labelers states: "The number of visitors is lower than I expected. The number of experts is also very low. Moreover, Weihai is not the best place to host an event like this." However, an exhibitor from the horticultural industry is very optimistic: "There were around 50 exhibitors and 2000 or 3000 visitors. Maybe the number of visitors was not very high, but for a first time fair it is not bad. Among the visitors were many local producers. They have come to better understand the new technologies and developments in the industry. The forum was also a success. There were over 350 attendees."