China’s largest trade fair saw a modest growth of deals signed during its three-week autumn edition, despite being attended by a record number of overseas buyers.
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Participants at the 136th edition of the China Import and Export Fair, widely known as Canton Fair, signed deals worth US$24.95 billion between October 15 and Monday, up by 1 per cent from the spring session, according to the organisers.
The number of international visitors, though, hit a record level of 253,000, up by 2.8 per cent from the spring edition in late April and early May.
Over 60 per cent of the foreign visitors were from countries that are members of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with their deals accounting for more than half of the total transaction volume.
The figures for the fair, which is widely seen as a gauge for the health of China’s trade and industrial progress for the next six to nine months, was noticeably below the US$29.3 billion from the last pre-pandemic fair in late 2019, which was attended by 186,000 overseas buyers.
But many of them were only observing and collecting samples rather than placing actual orders, and their purchasing power remains to be seen
A record high 29,400 export enterprises took part in the latest session of the fair, over 800 more than the previous session in April, with around 4,600 companies attending for the first time.
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