(File photo)

GUANGZHOU, Oct. 14 -- The upcoming Canton Fair will see fewer international buyers, suggesting tough trade prospects, an official said Wednesday.

"Fewer buyers have confirmed their attendance and fewer new guests have applied to attend the fair," said Xu Bing, spokesman of the 118th China Import and Export Fair, a biannual trade fair and a barometer of the foreign trade. The 11th session will open on Thursday.

Xu said rail ticket bookings from Hong Kong also declined compared with previous sessions and even fewer people have consulted via the fair hotlines.

"We may see a small-margin drop in the number of guests and therefore the overall trade prospects remain tough and leave no room for optimism," he said.

The Canton Fair is held biannually in Guangzhou City every spring and autumn. Its 117th session, held in April and May, was attended by 184,801 buyers, down 0.7 percent from the 116th session. The transaction volume was 172 billion yuan (28 bln U.S. dollars), slightly lower than the previous session.

Foreseeing the gloomy trade outlook, Xu said fair organizers have taken the initiative to invite more countries, especially those along the Belt and Road initiative routes, to attend the fair.

Under a sluggish global economy, high costs and slumping commodity prices, China's foreign trade continued to decline in September, though at a slower pace.

Foreign trade in September dropped 8.8 percent year on year to 2.22 trillion yuan (362.15 billion U.S. dollars), at a lesser rate than the 9.7-percent contraction in August, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

Exports dropped 1.1 percent year on year to 1.3 trillion yuan and imports decreased 17.7 percent to 924 billion yuan. The trade surplus totaled 376.2 billion yuan, up 96.1 percent.