The biannual Canton Fair, a barometer of the country's foreign trade, had fewer overseas buyers and trade deals in comparison to last year, organizers said.

The 115th session of the fair, which closed on May 5, attracted 188,119 overseas buyers, down 0.81 percent from the previous session last autumn, and down 7.23 percent from last year's spring session, said Liu Jianjun, spokesman for the fair.

Export volume dropped 12.64 percent year on year to 191.18 billion yuan ($31.05 billion), said Liu.

The decrease in attendance and turnover indicated that overseas market demand remained weak, and that the recovery of the domestic market had a long way to go, Liu said.