Foreign dealers negotiate with Shenzhen mobile phone makers at the 2008 Autumn Global Purchase Meeting and Buyers Customized Mobile Phone Summit in Shenzhen on Friday. Deals worth about US$300 million were signed during the two-day fair that closed Friday. Liu Minxia

    ABOUT 300 mobile phone dealers and manufacturers reached more than 70 deals worth around US$300 million at a procurement fair in Shenzhen, the organizing committee said yesterday.

    Buyers from more than 30 countries, including Kazakhstan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Cyprus, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Canada, Colombia, Indonesia and Thailand, met with Shenzhen mobile phone manufacturers at the two-day Global Purchase Meeting and Buyers Customized Mobile Phone Summit that closed Friday.

    When the fair was first held in Shenzhen in April, deals worth US$400 million were signed.

    “We didn’t expect so many overseas buyers to be attracted in the midst of the current financial crisis. And they placed so many orders. It proved that Shenzhen mobile phone makers are strongly competitive,” said Wang Li, CEO of Tianjin Ego Technology Development Co. Ltd. and a member of the fair’s organizing committee.

    Shenzhen mobile phone makers said the impact of the financial turmoil was limited. “We have felt the pressure resulting from the financial turbulence and stepped up efforts to develop new markets like India and the Middle East,”said Fan Donghua, deputy manager of Konka’s overseas sales department. “We expect our overseas sales in 2008 to increase by 1 million handsets to reach 6 million handsets.”