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Asiamold 2020, which was to take place Feb. 26-28 at the China Import and Export Fair Complex in Guangzhou, China, has been indefinitely postponed as China grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. Guangdong Province, home to Guangzhou, announced a suspension of large-scale events on Jan. 24 in response to the outbreak. Asiamold’s organizers said new dates for the fair “will be announced in due course.”

Asiamold 2019, which collocated with the SPS – Industrial Automation Fair Guangzhou (SIAF), featured more than 988 exhibitors and 98,776 visitors over three days last year. The organizer noted that attendance was up 37 percent.

Hubert Duh, chairman of Guangzhou Guangya Messe Frankfurt Co. Ltd. spoke on behalf of the fairs’ co-organizers in a release. “The wellbeing of all our stakeholders is paramount, so following the announcement by the Guangdong government to strengthen the epidemic prevention efforts by suspending all large-scale trade and economic events, we immediately began taking steps to postpone these two fairs to a later date,” Duh said. He noted that the fairs’ organizers are in communication with government authorities and venue owners about rescheduling, cautioning that it might be some time before new dates are established. “Due to the evolving situation in the country, it is too early to provide any details on this,” Duh said.

At time of publication, the cases of coronavirus in 18 countries throughout Asia, Europe and North America. In addition to China’s mainland, regional cases were reported in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.