The fifth international trade fair in Kashgar, an important ancient Silk Road town in what is now the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, opened Sunday.

The five-day Kashgar, Central and South Asia Commodity Fair attracted more than 12,000 businessmen, including about 800 from seven central and south Asian countries such as Tajikistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, according to organizers.

However, the number of foreign attendees plunged from last year, when it stood at about 2,000 people from 19 countries and regions, a sign of the impact of the global downturn.

Food, textiles and clothing, machinery and electronic products are among the major goods for trading.

The fair is conducive to "building a good active economic relationship between Kashgar and other parts of China, and central and south Asian countries," said Huang Sanping, a Kashgar official.

Last year, transactions at the fair reached 24.3 billion yuan ($3.55 billion).