The spring session of the biannual Canton Fair, or the 103rd China Import and Export Fair, closed here on Wednesday, clinching export deals worth US$38.23 billion, slightly higher than each of the two sessions last year.

The value of export deals was 2.1 percent more than the autumn fair last year, and 5.1 percent higher than the previous spring fair, said Xu Bing, the fair's spokesman.

He said that the number of overseas visitors, 192,013, was up 1.3 percent over the previous session held in Autumn last year.

He attributed the moderate growth in exports to the boom of trade with new export markets in the Middle East and the South-East Asia regions, which saw deals worth US$ 4.84 billion and US$ 1.99 billion at the fair, up 9.6 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively, over the autumn fair.

The exports to Russia and India also recorded a respective jump of 6.2 percent and 32.9 percent, to US$ 1.19 billion and US$ 930 million, respectively, Xu said.

There is a growing demand for machinery and electric products, the exports of which were up by 7.7 percent in general, and made up of 44 percent of the total volume signed at the fair, or US$ 16.82 billion, he said.

The spokesman said that the fair, dubbed as "barometer" of China's foreign trade, suggested difficulties in the country's exports.

The weak world market has dampened the exports of China-made garments and dress accessories, which were down by 4.8 percent from the previous fair to US$ 2.87 billion, and that of spinning yarn and textile products saw a dive of 16.8 percent to US$ 2.4 billion, he said..

He added that other consumer products including Chinese porcelain, furniture, office appliance, toy and plastic wares were all among the sluggish exports.

The fair, which ran from April 15 to 30, saw fewer orders from China's traditional export markets in the European Union, America, Japan and the Republic of Korea with the biggest fall in exports with the countries going above 20 percent, said the spokesman.

Liu Xu, head of the Foreign Economic Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission said that the fluctuation in China's export environment has prompted Chinese exporters to seek more export channels.

"The appreciation of yuan against the U.S. dollar has dealt a heavy blow to China's exports. So has it to the electric and information industry. However, the exporters that own intellectual property rights and self-developed brands of their products can still hold a big profit margin in exports," said Yu Heping, a marketing manager of China Delixi Group.