Coronavirus hits trade fairs, conferences

(Reuters) – Over two dozen large trade fairs and industry conferences in China and overseas have been postponed or hit by travel curbs and concerns about the spread of a coronavirus, potentially disrupting billions of dollars worth of deals.

In order of scheduled or likely dates:

* Taipei International Book Exhibition, Feb. 4-9 – Billed as Taiwan’s largest annual literary event, the exhibition has been postponed to May 7-12.

* League of Legends Pro League, due to start Feb. 5: The e-sports league owned by gaming giant Tencent Holdings said it would postpone the start of its second week until further notice.

* Singapore Airshow, Feb 11-16: The aviation leadership summit scheduled on the eve of the event was canceled. The show itself will go ahead as planned, but on a smaller scale with more than 70 exhibitors pulling out and the number of public tickets halved.

* China Commodity Markets Insight Forum 2020, Feb 19-20: The forum held by S&P Global Platts was delayed until further notice.

* National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) travel fair 2020, Feb 21-23: Moved to May because exhibitors were concerned about turnout at the fair.

* US chipmaker Nvidia pulled out of the Feb. 24-27 Mobile World Congress telecoms conference in Barcelona, becoming the third exhibitor after Swedish equipment maker Ericsson and South Korea’s LG Electronics.

* China Iron Ore 2020, Feb. 25-27: The event held by Fastmarkets in Beijing has been postponed to June 30–July 2.

* East China Import and Export Commodity Fair, March 1-4：Due to be held in Shanghai, the fair usually attracts traders of garments and household goods. It was postponed until further notice.

* Malaysia’s biggest palm oil conference, the Palm and Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference and Exhibition, or POC2020, originally scheduled for March 2-4, will be rescheduled to June 22-24.

* Marine Money China, March 3-4: Originally slated to be held in Shanghai, organizers of the meeting for shipping financiers have said that it has been delayed, likely until November.

* Food & Hotel Asia in Singapore, March 3-6: Organizers of the biennial trade show have postponed its first leg to July. The event attracted more than 80,000 attendees when it was last held in 2018.

* National People’s Congress, likely to have started March 5: China is considering delaying the annual meeting of its top legislative body, five people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

* 6th China LNG & Gas International Exhibition and Summit, Shanghai, March 4-6: Organizers said the event has been postponed until a later date this year. They are in the process of confirming the new date.

* Asian Ferroalloys, March 16-18: The conference by Fastmarkets, due to be held in Shanghai, has been postponed with no new date given.

* Art Basel Hong Kong show, March 19-21: The high-profile annual show has been canceled.

* SEMICON/FPD China 2020, March 18-30: The annual trade conference for the global chip industry in China was postponed until further notice.

* China Development Forum, usually late March: Hosted by a foundation under the State Council, the conference was postponed until further notice.

* Canton Fair, spring season from April 15: The venue of China’s oldest and biggest trade fair said it has suspended exhibitions until further notice.