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Canton Fair: record overseas visitors fail to inspire bumper sales, but some Chinese exporters fare ‘much better’
- A record 246,000 international visitors flocked to the spring session of the Canton Fair, but deals signed rose by only 10 per cent from the previous edition
- Organisers said around 160,000 visitors attended from countries involved in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with 50,000 from Europe and the US
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Overall transaction volumes at the spring edition of China’s largest trade event rose by only 10.7 per cent from the previous edition despite overseas visitor numbers hitting an all-time high.
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Participants at the spring session of the semi-annual Canton Fair signed US$24.7 billion worth of deals during the three-week event, organisers confirmed on Sunday.
But the figure for the fair, which is widely seen as a gauge for the health of China’s trade and industrial progress, was noticeably below the US$29.3 billion from the last pre-pandemic fair in late 2019.
And this was despite a record 246,000 international visitors – up by 24.5 from the autumn edition that took place in October and November – flocking to the fair in defiance of pouring rain which had wreaked havoc in other parts of southern China.
Nearly two-thirds of the foreign visitors to the fair were from countries that are members of China’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, according to the organisers, signing deals worth US$13.86 billion.
Attendees said they were curious to inspect goods from in-demand sectors, including alternative energy, despite criticism from Western countries about China flooding overseas markets with low-cost exports.
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