A major trade fair in China this week has seen orders dive as foreign buyers tighten their belts, state media reported, in a further sign the country is feeling the pinch from the global financial crisis. Contracts signed in the first five days of the ongoing China Import and Export Fair in southern Guangzhou city totaled $16.5 billion, down 10.8% from the last fair in April, Xinhua news agency said. The number of buyers from Europe and the U.S. were only two thirds of the last fair, event spokesman Mu Xinhai said according to the report, issued late Monday. Orders from the U.S. declined by around one third from the level in April to $1.6 billion, the biggest cut among all overseas buyers, it said. Evidence is mounting that the deepening global economic downturn is beginning to impact China's exports, a key growth driver for the world's fourth largest economy. The pace of expansion in exports in the first three quarters slowed down by 4.8 percentage points from last year, growing by 22.3% to $1.1 trillion, official figures showed. The Chinese economy also started to take a hit from the global financial woes, growing by 9% in the third quarter, the lowest growth figure since the second quarter of 2003. The government decided at a meeting last weekend to support exports in the fourth quarter, including tax incentives for labor-intensive products such as textiles and high-added value goods like electrical products. The import and export fair, which takes place twice a year, is viewed as a key indicator of Chinese trade activity. It opened on Oct. 15 and will run until Nov. 6.

By 2009 China will become the largest consumer market in Asia said Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming. Speaking at the 12th Xiamen International Trade and Investment Fair on Monday in the east Fujian Province, Chen predicted entertainment, housing and tourism will expand their shares in the domestic market. "As one of the world's fastest growing consumer markets, China is a world leader in mobile phone sales, domestic tourism, and broadband network penetration," said Chen. He also noted China is the second largest seller and buyer of gold and automobiles in the world. The country ranks third in consumption of luxury items and health care supplies. The average per capita GDP reached 2,456 U.S. dollars last year, said Chen. He added that consumption had bigger shares than investment for the first time in the nation's economic growth. For the past five years, China's annual consumption growth rate had been 13.1 percent. If the growth rate continues at just 10 percent, China's consumer market scale will exceed 30 trillion yuan (4.38 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2020. Chen predicted China will top the global luxury market by 2014,with a market share of 23 percent. He also said by 2015, the country could become the world's fourth largest provider of outbound tourists. Currently, China is the second largest consumer market in Asia next to Japan. That is predicted to change by 2015. According to areport by the Boston Consulting Group, done in 2007, China is likely to become the world's second largest consumer market next only to the Unites States.

Vietnam on Tuesday criticized the European Union's continued antidumping tariffs on some shoes, saying they would hit 500,000 workers in the Southeast Asian country's footwear industry. The European Commission has effectively continued two-year-old levies of 10% on leather-capped shoes from Vietnam, and 16.5% for such shoes from China, which had been due to expire Tuesday. The tariffs stay in place while the commission reviews whether the shoes are below-cost imports, aided by unfair state subsidies, that hurt European shoe makers concentrated in Italy, Portugal and Spain. Vietnam's Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Nguyen Thanh Bien said the decisions had an "adverse impact" on Vietnamese shoemakers and European importers and customers, speaking with the state-run Vietnam News Agency. "Vietnam is disappointed with the decision," he was quoted as saying. Bien urged a "fair and swift" review to "help enterprises from both sides to stabilize their production and business and give E.U. customers the chance to buy Vietnam-made leather-capped shoes at reasonable prices." The Vietnamese footwear industry has suffered a sharp revenue drop from exports to the E.U. market over the past two years, he said.

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission may extend anti-dumping duties on shoe imports from China and Vietnam, as it prepares to start a review that could last more than a year, a spokesman said Monday. The commission will decide by Oct. 1 whether to start a review to assess if the duties are still justified, and "the duties currently in place will continue" as long as that is being done, said Peter Power, spokesman for Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson. The commission aims to conclude the review "as quickly as possible," Power added, but he acknowledged that "it is impossible to predict the timing." It usually takes 12 to 15 months to carry out such a review.

China expressed regret over the European Union's (EU) decision to launch a sunset review of anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from the country, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on its website on Friday. It opposed the extension of the anti-dumping measures inflicted on the made-in-China shoes by any means, the ministry said. A split EU decided two years ago to levy anti-dumping duties up to 16.5 percent on imports of Chinese shoes from Oct. 7, 2006. The original measures should last two years and expire soon, but the review would decide whether to extend them. The ministry said the measures were not based on legal foundation or fact. They were even controversial within the EU. Considering the strong protests within the body, the EU slashed the years effective from five to two. The measures should be halted after the punitive duties have served for two years, the ministry said. Long protected by import quotas, the EU has already completed its industry restructuring with the help of those anti-dumping measures. There is no need to extend the protection as the EU is quite competitive and enjoys sound prospects on shoe exports, according to MOC. In addition, the EU is not in head-to-head competition with China as it excels in design and innovation with an eye on mid- and high-end markets. China, however, remained dedicated to manufacturing. That makes the anti-dumping measures meaningless, the ministry said. The ministry noted the decision was opposed by many European importers and retailers. This reflected their strong desire to resume the normal trade of footwear. The MOC hoped the EU could end the anti-dumping measures in response to the call of the public. Sunset review is a system ruled by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Anti-dumping Agreement and generally implemented by WTO members. If the review confirms the cancellation of anti-dumping measures result in further dumping and damage, investigation institutions may decide to implement anti-dumping measures for another five years.

BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Union will extend anti-dumping tariffs on shoes from China and Vietnam into next year, an E.U. source said Monday. The anti-dumping measures were introduced in 2006 to combat an influx of leather shoes into Europe from the two Asian countries that the E.U. said was boosted by unfair state aid. The measure has been strongly attacked in Asia and, at the time they were imposed, the tariffs were supported by the smallest majority of E.U. states, with 13 of the 25 nations in favor. The tariffs were originally imposed for two years and are due to expire next month. Now, the source close to the dossier said, they will be extended into 2009 or beyond. The E.U. anti-dumping measures involve import duties of 16.5% on Chinese shoes with leather uppers and 10% on the same kind of shoes from Vietnam. The step provoked strong opposition from Chinese shoemakers and the government in Beijing, which said the measures did not conform with E.U. and World Trade Organization regulations. Asked about the possibility of a tariff extension, a spokesman for E.U. Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson refused to comment. However, a report in the London Sunday Times cited a senior official working in Mandelson's department as saying that the commission would call for a review when the current tariff period ends next month. That would in effect extend the tariff period for a year or more after Mandelson tells his fellow commissioners about his decision this week, said the official.. The original two-year tariff period was a compromise to get the measures passed after the European Commission had proposed a five-year penalty. The main vote fault line ran between Europe's economically liberal north, hostile in principle to anti-dumping measures, and the more protectionist south, sympathetic to the views of E.U. producers. The tariffs were imposed after a commission investigation found that shoemakers in China and Vietnam unfairly benefited from state aid in the form of soft loans, tax breaks and cheap rents.

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