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Canton fair closes with moderate growth in export deals

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-01 09:31

People walk out of a hall of the Canton fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, April 30, 2008. The spring session of the biannual Canton Fair, or the 103rd China Import and Export Fair, closed in Guangzhou on Wednesday, clinching export deals worth $38.23 billion, slightly higher than each of the two sessions last year. [Xinhua]

The spring session of the biannual Canton Fair, or the 103rd China Import and Export Fair, closed in Guangzhou on Wednesday, clinching export deals worth $38.23 billion, slightly higher than each of the two sessions last year.

The value of export deals was 2.1 percent more than the autumn fair last year, and 5.1 percent higher than the previous spring fair, said Xu Bing, the fair's spokesman.

He said that the number of overseas visitors, 192,013, was up 1.3 percent over the previous session held in Autumn last year.

He attributed the moderate growth in exports to the boom of trade with new export markets in the Middle East and the South-East Asia regions, which saw deals worth $4.84 billion and $1.99 billion at the fair, up 9.6 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively, over the autumn fair.

The exports to Russia and India also recorded a respective jump of 6.2 percent and 32.9 percent, to $1.19 billion and $930 million, respectively, Xu said.

There is a growing demand for machinery and electric products, the exports of which were up by 7.7 percent in general, and made up of 44 percent of the total volume signed at the fair, or $16.82 billion, he said.

The spokesman said that the fair, dubbed as "barometer" of China's foreign trade, suggested difficulties in the country's exports.

The weak world market has dampened the exports of China-made garments and dress accessories, which were down by 4.8 percent from the previous fair to $2.87 billion, and that of spinning yarn and textile products saw a dive of 16.8 percent to $2.4 billion, he said.

He added that other consumer products including Chinese porcelain, furniture, office appliance, toy and plastic wares were all among the sluggish exports.

The fair, which ran from April 15 to 30, saw fewer orders from China's traditional export markets in the European Union, America, Japan and the Republic of Korea with the biggest fall in exports with the countries going above 20 percent, said the spokesman.

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