GUANGZHOU: Sales at China's most famous trade fair have dropped 20 percent amid the global financial crisis, organizers said yesterday.

Transactions at the 105th China Import and Export Fair, or Canton Fair, totaled $13.03 billion, a 20.8-percent drop from the same phase of the 104th session last October, Mu Xinhai, deputy secretary-general of the fair, said.

Figures from the fair have long served as a gauge of China's foreign trade.