Outside Thailand, Japan is the only country in Asia with a verified hemp or CBD trade fair between September 2026 and the end of 2027. That fair is the Japan International Hemp Expo, held on 13–14 November 2026 in Tokyo. This part covers Japan’s limits on THC and its import procedure, which decide whether you can bring a product sample. It also explains why the rest of Asia has no events. Finally, it lists three non-cannabis fairs where raw-material buyers meet suppliers.
The calendar was built from each organiser’s own website in mid-September 2026. Check the organiser’s website again before you book anything, because dates and venues can change.
This is Part 2. Part 1: Asia Cannabis Trade Fairs 2026–2027: Only Two Countries Have Any, and Thailand's Have Moved to Bangkok
Japan: one event, and the rules that decide what you can bring
The Japan International Hemp Expo is held at House of OMOTESANDO, a building in Tokyo’s Omotesando district. 13 November is the business day and 14 November is open to the public. Nothing is announced for 2027. For an exporter, Japan’s rules matter more than its fairs, because those rules decide what you can physically bring into the country.
What Japan’s 2023 amendment changed
Japan’s amended Cannabis Control Act, Law No. 84 of 2023, was promulgated on 13 December 2023. It took effect in two stages, on 12 December 2024 and on 1 March 2025. It made three changes:
- Medicines made from cannabis may now be used.
- Using cannabis became a criminal offence. Before the amendment, it was not.
- Products used to be controlled according to which part of the plant they came from. Now they are controlled according to how much THC they contain. The rules on cultivation were moved into a separate law.
Japan’s THC limits by product form
The table shows the residual Δ9-THC limits now in force. Δ9-THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main intoxicating compound in cannabis. ppm means parts per million, and 1 ppm equals 1 mg per kg.
| Product form | Limit | Same limit as a percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Oils, fats and powders | 10 ppm | 0.001% |
| Water-based liquids (aqueous solutions) | 0.10 ppm | 0.00001% |
| All other products | 1 ppm | 0.0001% |
Japan classifies any product above its limit as a narcotic.
Translator’s note: Thailand’s line for cannabis or hemp extracts is 0.2% THC, which equals 2,000 ppm. An extract just under that line still has about 200 times the THC Japan allows in an oil. A product that is legal as a hemp extract in Thailand is not automatically legal in Japan. Ask your lab to report THC in ppm, then compare that figure with the Japanese limit for your product form. This is the quickest way to tell whether shipping to Japan is realistic.
How the import check works
Japan’s Narcotics Control Department runs an advance-confirmation procedure for importing CBD products. You send documents before the import and receive a written answer. The procedure is officially voluntary, but in practice you need it.
The certificate of analysis must include seven items set out in the official guidance. They include:
- The product-form classification, which decides which THC limit applies.
- The analytical method.
- The signature and title of the person responsible at the laboratory, or of the analyst.
- The limit of detection, meaning the smallest amount the lab can detect at all.
The official guidance gives no fixed processing time. If the certificate of analysis is incomplete, you must resubmit it, and the answer takes longer. The guidance is clear on one more point. If customs finds a controlled substance during a physical inspection, a favourable written answer does not protect you.
What this means if you plan to exhibit in Japan
Taken together, these rules mean a physical sample needs two things: a compliant certificate of analysis and, realistically, an advance confirmation. Plan the time for the check as part of your fair preparation, not as a separate task. For the 13–14 November 2026 expo, starting the procedure now leaves very little time. Steps for a future Japanese fair:
- Start the advance confirmation well before the fair date, and ask the Narcotics Control Department by email how long it currently takes. That gives the check time to finish before you travel.
- Ask your lab whether its limit of quantification is below the Japanese limit for your product form. If it is not, the report cannot show that your product is under the limit. The forum guide to Thai laboratories explains what to ask.
- Do not carry any product until you have the written answer. Even with that answer, the product must actually meet the limit, because customs can still inspect it.
Translator’s note: the Thai rules apply before the sample ever reaches Japan. Cannabis flower is a controlled herb in Thailand. Exporting a controlled herb without a licence is an offence under Section 46 of the Thai Traditional Medicine Protection Act B.E. 2542. Under Section 78, the penalty is up to 1 year in prison, a fine of up to 20,000 baht, or both. For extracts above 0.2% THC, the Ministerial Regulation on Cannabis or Hemp Extracts B.E. 2569 has applied since 26 April 2026. It allows licences only for Thai juristic persons that are not “foreign” under the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542, state agencies and the Thai Red Cross Society. For a hemp-derived CBD product, check which Thai permit applies before you take a sample out of Thailand. Read what can legally leave Thailand as hemp before you pack anything.
The rest of Asia: 17 places checked, no events
Dedicated cannabis, hemp, CBD or kratom events were searched for in these 17 countries, territories and regions: Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Israel and the Gulf states. None of them had a verified event in this period.
Some well-known events in the region no longer run:
- CannX, a cannabis conference in Tel Aviv (Israel), still shows its 2022 edition as its “next” event.
- CannaTech, an international cannabis-technology conference, has a web address that now redirects to an unrelated site.
- India Hemp Expo last ran in February 2024 in Bengaluru. Its website’s security certificate has expired, which suggests nobody is maintaining it.
- Hong Kong’s CBD sector disappeared completely when CBD was classified as a dangerous drug on 1 February 2023.
Why there are no events: the law
The legal situation explains most of the gap.
- Singapore keeps the mandatory death penalty for trafficking above set quantities and bans CBD.
- Indonesia and Malaysia both keep the death penalty for trafficking offences.
- In the Philippines, the House of Representatives passed a medical cannabis bill in July 2024. The Senate has not passed it, so it is not law.
- Korea allows CBD medicines only as licensed imports. It has an industrial hemp regulatory sandbox (a zone where the government lets businesses test activities under relaxed rules) in Andong. The sandbox is a limited pilot, not an open market.
- China allows industrial hemp cultivation only in Yunnan and Heilongjiang. It bans CBD in cosmetics and food.
- India allows industrial hemp under state licences but keeps cannabis flower and resin prohibited.
- In December 2025, the United Arab Emirates issued a hemp law. It allows industrial use and licensed pharmaceutical use at or below 0.3% THC. It bans personal use and most consumer products. This is a new market, and there are no exhibitions for it yet.
Translator’s note: Hong Kong and Singapore are common transit airports on routes out of Thailand. Given the bans above, do not plan a route for a CBD sample through either place. For licensed shipments, read the forum guide to transit countries and trade documents. Do not budget travel for cannabis events anywhere in this list until an organiser publishes a dated event.
If you want buyers, not a cannabis event
If your goal is to meet Asian buyers of raw materials, three fairs outside Thailand and Japan are worth more than any event in Part 1. None of them is a cannabis fair:
- Vitafoods India, 9–11 February 2027, Mumbai. This is a fair for nutrition and health ingredients. The organiser expects more than 220 exhibitors and more than 10,000 visitors. It includes private label (products made by a manufacturer and sold under the buyer’s brand) and contract manufacturing (making products to order for another company).
- DUPHAT, 30 March – 1 April 2027, Dubai. This is a pharmaceutical conference and exhibition. The organiser’s website lists 25,000 visitors and participants and 1,100 exhibiting brands and companies. It takes place while the new hemp law in the United Arab Emirates is coming into practice.
- CPHI and PMEC India, 23–26 November 2026, Delhi and Greater Noida. This fair covers pharmaceutical ingredients and production machinery. Its exhibitor catalogue includes natural extracts.
Vitafoods Asia has also left Thailand. Its 2027 edition runs on 21–23 September 2027 at MITEC (the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre) in Kuala Lumpur, not in Bangkok.
Translator’s note: before you book one of these fairs, confirm that you are allowed to sell your product from Thailand. Licensing for extracts above 0.2% THC is limited, as described in the Japan section above. The forum guide to Thailand’s two 2026 ministerial regulations covers the details. Prepare a specification sheet and a recent certificate of analysis for each product, so buyers can assess it without a physical sample. Also ask the organiser whether hemp or CBD exhibitors are accepted under local law, since the UAE, for example, bans most consumer uses.
Organiser figures and what is still unconfirmed
The exhibitor and visitor numbers in both parts all come from the organisers. None of them has been independently audited. Trade fair attendance figures are partly marketing, not only measurement.
No event in this calendar publishes stand prices. Every organiser quotes only on request, which is a finding in itself. European shows work differently. IPM Essen, a horticulture trade fair in Essen, Germany, publishes a rate per square metre. For an overview of German fairs, see the forum guide to trade fairs in Germany.
A few details are still unconfirmed. Health and Wellness Japan, a health-products trade show, ran a CBD section in 2025. It is not confirmed whether the 2026 and 2027 editions will keep that section. The unconfirmed Thai details are listed in Part 1: the Chiang Mai Cannabis Cup 2026 date, provincial fairs, and the 2027 dates for Bio Asia Pacific and ProPak Asia.
Before you pay for any fair, ask the organiser for a list of the previous edition’s exhibitors and a written stand quote. Divide the total cost of the trip by the number of useful meetings you expect. That gives you one figure for comparing fairs.
Where the information comes from
All dates, venues and visitor or exhibitor figures come from each organiser’s own website, as checked in mid-September 2026. Event aggregator listings were not used. The legal summaries for Japan and the other countries come from the same research compilation. The Japanese procedure is based on official guidance on the advance-confirmation procedure for CBD imports.
If you have a question about Japan’s rules or a fair outside Thailand, ask it below this topic. You can also post your experience of these fairs in the Events and Conferences section.