www.chinaview.cn 2009-05-08 13:20:32

BEIJING , May 8 -- The 105th China Import and Export Fair, also known as Canton Fair ends its three-week session today in the southeast city of Guangzhou.

The biannual fair, initiated by the Ministry of Commerce, was held against the global economic downturn and falling foreign trade.

A sharp drop in the number of exhibitors from traditional markets, such as Europe and the United States, meant the total was down by 5.4 percent.

However, this year, fair organizers also reached out to emerging trade partners in the Middle East, Africa, and South America.

The China Foreign Trade Center, which organizes the event, claimed the number of participants and turnover were both better than expected.

SOUNDBITE:Joao Carlos Frade, a purchasing agent from Mozambique "I learnt about the Canton Fair on the Internet. It provided me a great network of suppliers. I now maintain a monthly order of a couple of containers’ shipments from China. I made an order of one container of goods just now, the second in recent days. And I'll bring back different products for sample testing as well."

SOUNDBITE: Huang Shuiyuan, Business Manager of Overseas Operations of NUC Electric Appliances Company of Korea "Unlike the Chicago Housewares Show where we are limited to potential clients from the United States, at the Canton Fair we're able to meet traders from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe. This makes the Canton Fair more attractive in finding new business partners."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Guangzhou. (Source: XHTV)