An estimated US$34.06 billion in business deals were agreed at
the 100th session of the Chinese Export Commodities Fair (CECF),
also known as the Canton Fair, which ended
Monday.???
CECF spokesman Xu Bing said the value was 5.7 percent up from
this year's spring session and a 15.7 percent increase from last
year's autumn event.?
The biannual fair has been held in the spring and autumn in the
southern business hub of Guangzhou since 1957. It's the biggest
fair of its kind in China with contracts accounting for a quarter
of national exports.
Xu said the fair had attracted 192,691 buyers from 212 countries
and regions including 106,716 from Asia, the leading source of
buyers, followed by Europe, America, and Africa.
With Christmas just two months away the number of buyers from
Europe had climbed 19.3 percent from the 1999 session to 40,596 and
the number from America rose 3.4 percent to 26,021.
Xu said deals on electro-mechanical products were valued at
US$13.82 billion which was 40.6 percent of the total. Light
industry product contracts were worth US$11.55 billion standing for
33.9 percent of the total.
Deals on garments were valued at US$2.9 billion, textile
products US$2.51 billion and farm produce US$1.1 billion. EU buyers
were the big spenders and struck deals worth US$11.59 billion,
followed by US$5.01 billion through US buyers and US$4.06 billion
spent by Middle East businesses.??
Xu said private businesses contributed to 48.2 percent of
the total contract value or US$16.4 billion. Deals from state-owned
enterprises were worth US$12.9 billion and those from
foreign-funded firms US$4.76 billion.
The 12-day fair is divided into two phases. The first phase is
October 15 to 20 and the second from October 25 to 30.
The first showcases textiles, garments, health products,
household appliances, tools, small vehicles and other hardware. The
second features farm produce, foodstuffs, tea, kitchenware,
decorations, toys, sports goods and office supplies.
The fair had 31,408 standard booths at the CECF Liuhua and
Pazhou Complexes. This is 1,350 more than this year's spring
session.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)
