China's Canton Fair hits headwinds as trade slumps
The total value of deals sealed at the bellwether import-export event is one of the lowest results since the 2008 global financial crisis
The country's biggest trade fair ended on Tuesday with organisers reporting the second-worst transaction results for the twice-yearly event since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Liu Jianjun, spokesman for the China Import and Export Fair, better known as the Canton Fair, said transaction volumes fell 9.64 per cent year on year to 172 billion yuan (HK$218 billion), or US$28 billion, the lowest total in six years.
Liu did not say why the figure was low, saying it simply reflected the performance of the country's foreign trade in the first quarter of this year.
"The state of the nation's foreign trade was dire in the first quarter," he said. "Chinese customs figures showed that the total value of China's imports and exports in the first quarter was 5.54 trillion yuan, representing a 6 per cent drop on the same time last year."
Exports slumped 15 per cent year on year in March to US$144.6 billion after increasing by nearly half in February.
The economy grew by 7.4 per cent in 2014, a 24-year low. The official growth target for this year is even lower at around 7 per cent.
The trade fair, held twice a year in eastern Guangzhou, has long been seen as a gauge of China's exports for the next six to nine months.