Signs of weakening demand at China's largest industrial bazaar

Weak global demand for Chinese exports was evident at China’s largest industrial bazaar, where suppliers of everything from electronics to Christmas decorations said the number of buyers and orders were 10 per cent lower than at the previous fair in the spring.

The Canton Fair is a twice-yearly event that provides anecdotal evidence of overseas demand for Chinese goods. The organisers said yesterday that orders from Europe had fallen about 10 per cent, while orders from Japan had dropped almost one-third – hit by tension between China and Japan. The dearth of buyers has added to evidence that the slowdown in Chinese exports looks set to last, since the orders by retailers from the US, Europe and the Middle East are for 2013.

Although exports in September rose 9.9 per cent from the previous year, those numbers were not as firm as they looked. They were affected by the timing of the Chinese mid-autumn festival, which this year fell in early October, meaning September export data this year benefited from more working days.– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012)