Tensions between buyers and exhibitors flared on Monday at the Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair as manufacturers raised factory-gate prices by about 10 percent to offset swelling costs amid fears that sales could fall.

Toymakers heavily exposed to the euro zone and US warned that sales could drop 30 percent this year, a scenario that could batter the industry even more than during the global financial crisis.

With everyone looking for the best deal, the one thing the two sides do not dispute is that the European debt crisis and the US economic slowdown will hurt demand.

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