Canton Fair opens amid inflation concerns

GUANGZHOU, April 16 (Xinhua): The Canton Fair, China's largest trade fair and a key indicator of the country's trade and economic development, opened Friday amid growing inflation concerns weighing on the nation's exporters. In addition to exploring business opportunities, the multitudes of sellers and buyers at the fair, officially known as the China Import and Export Fair, are keeping a close watch on developments in the nation's rising inflation. China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, hit a 32-month high when it rose to 5.4 per cent in March from the same month last year, while the CPI stood at 5 per cent for the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. "The increasing costs of raw materials and labor really pinched us," said Zhang Tieyan, Branding & Marketing Department Director of Haier Group. Zhang's opinion was echoed by many other large- and medium-sized companies at the fair. "We have to try hard to improve technology, expand new markets and promote efficiency to confront negative impact," said Zhang, adding that establishing production lines in target markets like central Asia and Europe could also help.