Bad vibes at commodities fair

Companies reported sluggish EU and US sales at China's normally high-turnover annual Export Commodities Fair, according to state media. "We got no orders at all from US customers this spring," said an executive with a shirt-making firm. "The number of orders from Europe was not large either." But sales were only marginally down compared to last year's meeting: sales totaled US$4.68 billion, 1.6% off last year's tally.