"The achievement is outstanding considering the special circumstances, although the transactions recorded were fewer than at previous fairs," said Xu Bing, spokesman and deputy secretary-general of the fair.

The fair started when the Iraq war was under way and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SAR) was affecting the host city of Guangzhou.

Despite the epidemic, none of the thousands of exhibitors and visitors from home and abroad fell ill with SARS during the event, held from April 15 to 30, because of the precautions taken, he said.

Xu described the infection control measures as being as successful as the fair itself.

More than 9,100 domestic enterprises attended the fair.

And about 23,000 business people from 167 countries and regions worldwide sought business opportunities at the fair.

Almost 7,000 foreign business people - or 30 percent of total visitors - came to the fair for the first time.

Xu said that machinery and electronic products, textiles, garments and agricultural products earned most of the foreign exchange.

Machinery and electronic products occupied a lion's share of 46 percent of the total volume; textiles and garments secured 18 percent; and agricultural products 5 percent.

Deals with business people from Asia were the most lucrative, accounting for 45 percent of the total volume.

Deals with European firms accounted for 27 percent, while American firms made up 19 percent of the total.

Guangdong's trade delegation struck 41 percent of the contracts; Zhejiang 11 percent; Jiangsu 7 percent; and Shandong 4 percent.

Xu said centralized purchasing by major international firms and online negotiations played an important supplementary role at the fair.

For the first time, four transnational purchasing groups - US-based Home Depot, Central Purchasing and QVC, as well as France-based Auchan - were invited to make centralized purchases at the fair.

There were also 59 million hits on the online negotiation platforms of www.cantonfair.org.cn, www.ec.com.cn and www.chinamet.com.cn by Tuesday.

As of April 29, online transactions leading to further negotiations were valued at US$310 million.

(China Daily May 2, 2003)