CHINA’S largest trade expo, the China Import and Export Fair, opened yesterday in Guangzhou, shifting its focus to the domestic market after overseas demand shrunk causing a decline in exports for five successive months.

    Exhibitors who normally target foreign buyers were invited to target their products at the domestic market, said Mu Xinhai, a spokesman for the organizers.

    The 105th fair has also managed to attract domestic buyers — including businessmen from large shopping malls, chain stores and wholesale markets — to participate in the fair, said Mu.

    The number of exhibitors was 237 less than that in the previous year, the first decrease recorded in the past 10 years, he said.

    The fair, which normally has three phases, would devote a day from the second and the third phases specifically for dealers in the domestic market.

    The Canton Fair, established in 1952 and as the fair was originally known, mainly featured Chinese products to overseas buyers. But it reinvented itself after some exporters shifted their focus to the domestic market because many global trading partners had slipped into recession.

    “The financial crisis has shown that if an enterprise does not have a good foundation in the domestic market, it will be hard to be strong in exports,” said Wen Zhongliang, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

    China’s exports have declined five months in a row. Exports declined 17.1 percent in March, after a sharp drop of 25.7 percent in February.(SD-Agencies)