Deals Rise to US$34 Bln at Canton Fair -- china.org.cn

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)