The number of buyers on the opening day of the Canton Fair, officially known as the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province on Saturday were down on what they were last year, exporters say.

The Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po said the appreciation of the yuan was the main reason. Some local firms have given up on Europe because of an anti-dumping tariff imposed on ceramic tiles from China.

Foreign buyers and Chinese exporters tend to sign short-term and small-scale contracts because of the instability of the yuan, the paper said, quoting a spokesman for the Canton Fair, Liu Jianjun.

By Sun Yuanqing