Shirley Chan, the chief executive of YGM Trading, another major manufacturer for brands such as Aquascutum, Ashworth and Guy Laroche, said it had seen a drop in US orders in the past few weeks.

"Recovery in the US retail sector is confined mainly to a few major cities like New York and Boston, but is much slower in second-tier cities such as Dallas and Detroit," Chan said. "Retailers which replenished their warehouses earlier this year were too optimistic when placing orders and have now found their stocks piling up again."

Although Li & Fung, which sources merchandise for Wal-Mart, said it had not received cancellations from the US retailer, its share price fell to a four-week intraday low yesterday before rebounding to close at HK$11.42.

Irons Sze, the president of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, said only particular sectors had been hit by reduced orders. "We did see a fall in orders for garments and apparel - especially the low and medium-priced ones - but there's small growth in the electronics and electrical goods sector. Orders on toys remained stable," he said.

The Census and Statistics Department yesterday said exports fell 1.3 per cent in value last month following a jump of 10.6 per cent in July. Export value grew 3.5 per cent in the first eight months of the year, with the Trade Development Council saying it expected the gain for the whole year to be 4 per cent.

Chin Yiu-tong, a toy supplier to Carrefour who lost some of its orders to cheaper products last year, said the French hypermarket chain had returned this year looking for higher quality goods.