A booth selling Chinese-patterned products at the 108th Canton Fair (Guangzhou Daily)

The 108th Canton Fair, China largest import and export fair, came to a close yesterday (November 4th). Official statistics show that the number of attendants dropped by 2% to just under 200,000 people but that the transaction volume has increase from last session, yet still far from pre-financial crisis levels.

There was an obvious growth in the number of buyers from Europe and the USA, with European attendants rising by over 22%.) The numbers of participants from Oceania and Africa has dropped to 11% and 12% respectively year-on-year.

According to Liu Jianjun, the Canton Fair spokesman, the 109th session will begin to build a center to promote creative products abroad. Due to the global financial crisis, 2009 saw a decline in world trade and that China's export manufacturers are in a difficult situation. Due to the appreciation of the Yuan, an increase in the price of raw materials and other factors, exporters are more prudent when receiving orders. Short-term orders account for over half of all deals.