Processing fair gives boost to local market

Despite sluggish overseas demand, Chinese processing trade companies are bracing for growing opportunities in the domestic market, the organizers of a major trade fair said on Friday.

"Processing trade companies, which usually ship their products to emerging markets such as Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, can now find customers in the domestic market due to their competitive prices and quality," said Liu Xiaojie, deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong provincial government.

Those companies saw strong demand at the annual China Processing Trade Products Fair, which was launched last year to help companies tap the domestic market.

As of Friday, the value of the deals completed at the fair, which was held in Dongguan, Guangdong province, reached nearly 77 billion yuan ($12.5 billion), an increase of 12 percent over the previous session, according to the fair's organizing committee.

"The strong domestic demand will help processing trade firms, which usually depend on exports for growth, and offset their business losses in overseas markets, especially amid the sluggish overseas demand," said Wu Jun, vice-director of Guangdong's Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Department.

According to Wu, Guangdong's foreign trade will remain stable this year, although trade in May saw a sharp decrease.

"The decrease in trade was mainly due to the continued sluggish demand for Chinese products in major overseas markets," Wu said.