Signs of Recovery Growth
Apr. 26,2010
The first phase of the 107th Session of the Canton Fair concluded successfully on April 19th, 2010. According to Mr. Chen Chaoren, vice secretary general and spokesman of the Canton Fair, 104,169 overseas buyers attended the first phase of the Fair, increased by 13.3% over last Autumn Fair. The export turnover reaches USD 17.1 billion, up by 9.8% than that of the last Autumn Fair. Although the buyer attendance and export turnover both show signs of steady growth, compared to the performance before the financial crisis, there is still some gap, and it does not recover to the level before the financial crisis.
The number of overseas buyers increased, while buyer attendance from Europe and the U.S. declined slightly. Statistics showed that there were 61,961 Asian buyers, 13,875 American, and 3,392 Oceanian buyers, increased by 16.3%, 15% and 22.9% respectively; there were 10,806 African buyers, increased by 21.5%. There was a slight decline of European buyers, the number was 14,135, decreased by 5.2% than that of last session; there were 4,020 American buyers, down by 4.94% over that of the last session.
The top 3 countries and regions with the greatest buyer attendance are Hong Kong SAR, India, Malaysia, with 10,553, 5,376, 5,254 buyers respectively.
The turnover showed instauration of increase of the first phase. Turnover of mechanical and electrical products reached USD 14.71 billion, taking up 86% of the total, up by 9.4% than that of last Autumn Fair. Among them, household electrical appliances were still the cornerstone with a turnover of USD 5.72 billion, increased by 7.9% over last Autumn Fair. Machinery and equipments witnessed the greatest rise with a turnover of USD 1.44 billion, up by 51.6% than that of the last Autumn Fair. Building and decorative materials, chemical products also witnessed an increase in terms of turnover.
Turnover for private enterprises, state-owned enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises are USD 11.11 billion, USD 3.42 billion and USD 2.57 billion, taking up 65%, 20% and 15% of the total respectively, increased by 8.6%, 22.6% and 0.8 % than those of the last Autumn Fair respectively.
The top 3 trade delegations with the biggest turnover were: Guangdong Trade Delegation with USD 6.32 billion, Zhejiang Trade Delegation with USD 1.85 billion and Jiangsu Trade Delegation with USD 1.76 billion.
Accumulative transaction volume in the Brand Zone reached USD 7.53 billion, accounting for 44.1% of the total, increased by 9.1% over the last Autumn Fair. The visit to the Canton Fair’s websites accumulated to 41.073 million times, up by 4.8% over the last Autumn Fair. Accumulative online intentioned turnover reached USD 17.61 million, increased by 12.4% over that of last Autumn Fair.
Chen Chaoren said that according to the statistics, buyer attendance and turnover in Phase 1 generally continued to improve. The overall trend of recovery for foreign trade was further established, but it didn’t reach the level before the financial crisis yet. Buyer attendance in Phase 1 decreased by 8.1% compared to the historic record of buyer attendance achieved in the Spring Fair in 2007. The positive changes in Phase 1 are mainly due to such short-term factors as expectation of appreciation for RMB, the rising cost of raw materials and the need of store replenishment. The foreign demand has not fully recovered. Exhibitors reflected that the current growth in turnover was restorative. Export enterprises are concerned about the risk of the change of exchange rates, costs and policies and the increasing trade frictions. They are prudent about deals and cautious to take long-term orders. Chen Chaoren also pointed out that, in terms of mechanical and electronic products, compared to the turnover of USD 16.82 billion in the 103rd session of the Canton Fair, the turnover of mechanical and electronic products in this session decreased by USD 2.11 billion. We should be cautiously optimistic especially when the number of buyers from European countries and the U.S. decreased rather than increase over the last Autumn Fair. It’s difficult to make a judgment of the tendency in the second half of this year. A vast number of enterprises hope that the exchange rate of RMB and the export policies can maintain stable.
Phase 2 will still be held in the Canton Fair Pazhou Complex from April 23rd to 27th. The products will be classified into 3 categories of Consumer Goods, Gifts and Home Decorations, and the products will be shown in 16 exhibition sections.
