Visitors shy away from China trade fair

China's massive trade fair in the southern city of Guangzhou got off to a wretched start as fear of the deadly Sars virus kept many foreign buyers at bay.

The first half of the spring session of the Chinese Export Commodities Fair, or Canton Fair, attracted 16,433 customers with US$3.31 billion worth of contracts signed from April 15 to 19, the organiser said on its website www.cantonfair.org.cn.

Halfway through the scheduled event, the number of buyers and value of contracts signed was less than 20% of the 120,576 customers and $16.85 billion in contracts recorded during the entire Spring session last year.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) is believed to have originated in China's Guangdong province late last year and domestic worry about the outbreak has spread since Beijing allowed state media to report more fully on the disease earlier this month.

Sars has killed more than 230 people and infected over 4,200 worldwide. China has about half of the known cases.

Many would-be visitors to the fair have stayed away since the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned against travel to Hong Kong and neighbouring Guangdong province.

Hong Kong's Singtao Daily newspaper said in a column yesterday that activity for the first phase of the Canton Fair was the weakest in its 46 years and said the government should consider cancelling the second part of the show starting from April 25 to 29.

``European and US buyers, for sure, will not come amid the current status of Sars in China. The second phase of the exhibition will be quieter than the first phase,'' it said.

A Jiangsu trade team with more than 2,000 members was quarantined for 10 days by the provincial government after returning from the Canton Fair.

The twice-yearly trade fair yielded contracts worth $35.32 billion in 2002, equivalent to more than 10% of the country's total exports for the year.

Meanwhile organisers of Shanghai's much-hyped auto show said yesterday the event would end three days ahead of schedule today as officials sought to prevent the spread of Sars.

Hundreds of thousands were expected to visit the exhibition, which opened on Monday. More than 86,000 turned up on the first two days.