China's leading trade fair opens 104th session in Guangzhou

Published: 15 Oct 2008 19:15:28 PST

It is known as the "Canton fair" because that was the old name of Guangdong.

It was originally a biannual export-promotion event until the 101st session in the spring of 2007. That's when its name was officially changed from the Chinese Export Commodities Fair to the China Import and Export Fair.

The previous session, held April 15-30 of this year, reported export deals worth US$38.23 billion. That was 2.1 percent more than the autumn fair last year and 5.1 percent higher than the previous spring fair. Import figures have not been released.

Based on export volumes at the 103rd session of the fair, Guangdong Province remains the No. 1 exporter in China. It was followed by the eastern provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Shanghai Municipality in sequence.