Canton Fair Closed With Record Foreign Attendance
The biannual China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair), organized by the China Foreign Trade Centre and Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), concluded with a reported 207,000 international visitors - a 5.8-percent increase, compared with more than 2010, setting a new record high. According to the organiser, the fair reportedly facilitated $36.8 billion worth of trade deals.
Organisers claimed trade with the Middle East dropped 11 percent in terms of volume due to the political unrest in that region.
Visitor numbers from Libya plummeted 80 percent and numbers from Egypt and Tunisia also were down 30 percent.
A 19-precent drop in trade volume with Japan was attributed to the disruption caused by the March earthquake and tsunami. China’s Ministry of Commerce, however, reports that agricultural exports to Japan in the first quarter were up 22.8 percent year-on-year at $2.35 billion.
According to organiser’s data, emerging markets were responsible for much of the show’s growth, as trade with Brazil, India, South Africa and Russia posted growth of more than 30 percent.
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