The 98th Chinese Export Commodities Fair opened Saturday in
Guangzhou. Apparently fewer American textile and apparel merchants
are coming to the fair due to the pending Sino-US textile trade
dispute.
A fair spokesperson predicted on Friday the textile trade
disputes may adversely affect business deals at the fair, dubbed
China's No. 1 Exhibition.
Altogether 12,655 Chinese businesses are attending the fair, 376
up from the previous one held six months ago, according to Xu Bing,
deputy secretary-general of China Export Commodities Fair and
spokesperson for the event.
Yet very few American businessmen are seen among the crowds of
potential buyers visiting exhibition stands of Chinese textile
firms Saturday.
"We sent invitations to all our American clients, but very few
responded actively," said Wang Dingying, general manager of
Taipingniao Investment Group, a leading textile and garments dealer
based in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang
Province. "Most of them want to wait and see."
On Friday, Xu Bing said there would be a drop in textile deals
at the fair, given restrictions re-imposed by the European Union on
imports of a wide range of textiles from China and the abortive
latest round of Sino-US textile trade talks that ended Thursday
without reaching any agreement.
In fact, there was already a decline in the number of American
textile merchants visiting the 97th fair held in April this year
because of the textile trade dispute, according to Xu.
Business deals concerning garments and textiles struck at the
97th fair were valued at US$2.74 billion and US$2.18 billion
respectively, down by 4.3 percent and 0.3 percent.
According to Xu, the organizing committee of the fair invited
280,000 overseas purchasers from 210 countries and regions to
attend the fall fair, and at least 10 big-name multinationals are
ready to place orders at the fair, including Carrefour of France,
QVC and HDC of the United States and AIDA of Denmark.
The Chinese Export Commodities Fair, a biannual event launched
in 1957, is dubbed the bellwether of the country's foreign trade.
Each fair consists of two phases: manufactured goods, textile and
garments, foodstuffs and medicine for the first phase, and
souvenirs, gifts and commodities for daily use for the second
phase.
(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2005)