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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.
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.
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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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Their enthusiasm may have helped make up for comparatively weak attendance by participants from Europe and the United States, as trade relations between China and the West have remained strained over issues of overcapacity and national security.
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