Source: Xinhua

03-06-2009 09:02

SHANGHAI, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The 19th East China Fair ended Thursday in Shanghai, with signs that China's exports would be subdued for some time to come.

Organizers said transactions totaled 2.24 billion U.S. dollars, down 39 percent from the previous session last year.

The five-day event was sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce and was the largest regional commodity fair in China. It covered nine provinces and cities: Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Nanjing and Ningbo.

With 5,312 booths, it attracted more than 3,500 domestic and foreign companies. There were 18,229 overseas participants from 140 nations and regions, according to the organizing committee.

Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said at the fair that China faced a "severe" trade situation this year because of the global downturn.

Li Jian, researcher of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the global crisis was deepening and leading to a slowdown of trade and investment, as well as higher unemployment.

"With a three- to five-year global trade recession, China's foreign trade won't return to 20-percent annual growth," he said. Growth would be more moderate at about 10 percent.

China's foreign trade rose 17.8 percent last year, but the growth rate was down 5.7 percentage points from that of 2007, according to the General Administration of Customs.

China reported exports of 90.45 billion U.S dollars in January, down 17.5 percent year-on-year, a far sharper fall than the 2.8-percent decline in December.