HE Spring Festival holiday last week did not upset plans for the East China Fair which will open tomorrow as originally scheduled, although some small firms decided not to attend, the fair organizers said yesterday.
The fair, the country's earliest and biggest regional trade show which started in 1991, has drawn 3,378 companies which have booked 115,000 square meters of booths, the same as last year. There are 204 overseas exhibitors, including from Japan, South Korea, Lithuania, Colombia, Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Zambia as well as from China's Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
"Some small companies decided to quit the fair this year because of limited time to prepare" due to the Spring Festival holiday which ended on Tuesday, said You Yongsheng, an official at the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.
"But the majority of the exhibitors managed to overcome difficulties and will present their best products at the fair," You said.
"It has become a branded fair and a gauge to predict China's trade performance in the following months," You said.
Last year's fair sealed export orders worth US$2.8 billion, with 21,433 visitors from 117 countries and regions attending.
You said the weakening yuan may be an incentive for exporters this year at the fair, which focuses on clothes, textile, gifts and daily consumer goods.
The East China Fair will run through Thursday at the Shanghai New International Expo Center in Pudong New Area.
