China's export orders fell 19 percent at the opening session of the nation's biggest trade fair from the same period in 2008, before the global financial crisis deepened, the commerce ministry said.
Orders at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou totaled US$17.1 billion from April 15 to 19, the ministry said on its Web site yesterday. While the ministry didn't give a comparison with a year earlier, a previously published figure of US$13.03 billion for the same period in 2009 indicates a 31 percent increase.
Yesterday's statement comes as government officials weigh when to scrap the yuan's peg to the dollar, adopted in July 2008. Officials may allow currency gains to resume before June 30 to curb inflation, a Bloomberg News survey showed last week.
"Enterprises generally reported that foreign trade is still facing many unstable and uncertain factors and they took a cautiously positive outlook," the ministry said.
The statement said that the value of orders rose 9.8 percent from the same phase of last year's autumn fair. The trade show is held twice a year.
Orders at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou totaled US$17.1 billion from April 15 to 19, the ministry said on its Web site yesterday. While the ministry didn't give a comparison with a year earlier, a previously published figure of US$13.03 billion for the same period in 2009 indicates a 31 percent increase.
Yesterday's statement comes as government officials weigh when to scrap the yuan's peg to the dollar, adopted in July 2008. Officials may allow currency gains to resume before June 30 to curb inflation, a Bloomberg News survey showed last week.
"Enterprises generally reported that foreign trade is still facing many unstable and uncertain factors and they took a cautiously positive outlook," the ministry said.
The statement said that the value of orders rose 9.8 percent from the same phase of last year's autumn fair. The trade show is held twice a year.
