Chinese companies signed a record $83.5 billion in import deals at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, reinforcing the importance of mainland consumers as growth drivers for global businesses and the world economy less than two weeks after the US and China reached a trade truce, reports the South China Morning Post. The total—the fifth straight record high for the annual six-day event, which concluded on Monday—represented a 4.4% increase from a year earlier, according to the organiser, the CIIE Bureau.
“Chinese companies have increased purchases of foreign-made goods that local consumers desire and need,” said Ding Haifeng, a consultant at Shanghai-based financial advisory firm Integrity. “The trade pact between the world’s two largest economies gave foreign manufacturers and local merchants much confidence in concluding deals.”
According to the CIIE Bureau, a unit of the Ministry of Commerce, the contracts were preliminary, and some of the deals might not be finalised. Many of the contracts were pre-signed before the expo opened on November 5.