Canton Fair closes with lowest exports since 2009

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 4 -- Organizers of the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, reported the lowest export volume since 2009 as the fair concluded on Monday in Guangzhou in southern Guangdong Province.

The export volume dropped by 3 percent from the last autumn session to 194.61 billion yuan (31.69 billion U.S. dollars), and was down 10.9 percent from the figure reported at the fair's spring session this year, said Liu Jianjun, spokesman with the fair.

The figure was the lowest since the fair's autumn session in 2009, when the export volume stood at 30.47 billion U.S. dollars as the 2008 economic crisis hit markets around the world.

The decrease in volume indicates that overseas market demand remains weak, Liu said.

"The decrease from both the spring and last autumn sessions indicated that the world economic recovery remains on an uncertain and unstable course, which continues to challenge the stability and development of China's foreign trade," Liu said.

First held in 1957, the biannual Canton Fair is the largest trade fair in China and is considered a barometer of the country's foreign trade.

In recent years, the fair has attracted more than 20,000 Chinese enterprises to participate in each session.

A total of 189,000 overseas buyers attended this year's autumn session, which opened on Oct. 15, a 6.5 percent drop from the spring session, but a slight gain of 0.1 percent from the autumn session last year, the organizer said.

Export volume to BRICS countries -- India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa -- declined 17.2 percent and 12.2 percent from the spring and last autumn sessions respectively, compared with 1.7 percent and 11.8 percent gains with the United States.

Meanwhile, export volume to ASEAN countries dropped 3.6 percent and 2.1 percent from the spring and last autumn sessions, respectively, and export volume to Middle Eastern countries dropped 23.2 percent and 15.5 percent, according to the organizer.

However, Chinese enterprises at the fair are not surprised by the decline in exports.

In the first three quarters of the year, exports of Chinese home appliances declined, and there is still no visible sign of an economic recovery, said Zhang Qingfu, head of the Middle East and Africa overseas business division of Haier Group, China's largest home appliance manufacturer.

"The next three to five years will be a difficult transitional period for China's foreign trade industry," Zhang said.

This year, the fair calculated export volume in Chinese yuan for the first time, a purposeful move by the organizer to promote the currency's internationalization.