Canton Fair concludes with record number of int'l buyers

GUANGZHOU, May 5 (Xinhua) -- The 135th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, concluded Sunday in south China's Guangzhou, with a record number of international buyers in attendance, according to the fair organizer.

A total of 246,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries and regions participated in the offline fair, up 24.5 percent from the previous session.

Since its opening on April 15th, the event has attracted about 160,000 buyers from countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, a 25.1-percent rise from the previous session. Around 50,000 buyers from Europe and the United States attended the fair, marking a 10.7 percent increase.

Offline export transactions totaled 24.7 billion U.S. dollars, while online platform export transactions reached 3.03 billion dollars, up 10.7 percent and 33.1 percent, respectively, compared to the previous session.

Founded in 1957, the offline Canton Fair is hosted twice a year in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province. It is the longest-running of several comprehensive international trading events in China, and is hailed as the barometer of China's foreign trade.