Trade fair promises good year for exports

The value of deals signed at China's flagship trade fair may be on par with the previous session, which suggests improving sentiment about the world's biggest exporter, officials said.

"Last year was the most difficult year for Chinese exporters," Liu Jianjun, spokesman for the Canton Fair and deputy director of the China Foreign Trade Center, told a news briefing on Sunday.

"As China's economy picks up, exporters commonly agree that the situation will be better in 2013 in view of the improvement in overseas orders," Liu said.