Almost 130,000 buyers attended the offline event, the
organisers said.
(Reporting by David Kirton in Shenzhen and Ellen Zhang in
Beijing; Editing by Stephen Coates)
SHENZHEN, China, May 6 (Reuters) - The first full return
of China's biggest trade show saw a drop in the value of signed
export orders compared to pre-pandemic levels, though the figure
still managed to exceed expectations, its organisers said.
Offline export deals signed at the Canton Fair came to
$21.69 billion, organisers said on Friday, down almost a third
on the $29.73 billion signed in the spring session of the fair
in 2019.
The first major trade event since China abruptly dropped
draconian COVID-19 curbs and re-opened its borders came as
sharply higher borrowing costs in the United States and Europe
hit demand for Chinese-made goods.
China's vice commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, had warned a
week before the fair that the foreign trade situation would be
"severe and complicated this year." The pandemic caused subsequent fairs to be cancelled, moved
online, or held without overseas visitors.
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