The 103rd China Import & Export Fair, scheduled for April 15 to 30 next year, will have a larger exhibition floor space with the expansion of one of its two existing venues.

View inside the Pazhou Int'l Convention Center in Guangzhou, main venue of the 102 session of Canton Fair. (New Express Daily photo)

Xu Bing, spokesman for the fair, a biannual event held in spring and autumn, said the export-oriented space would be enlarged from 620,000 square meters for its 102nd fair to 820,000 square meters.

"We will install 41,000 business booths, an increase of up to 10,000 from the 102nd fair," said Xu. "The enlarged space will provide more small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises with an opportunity to exhibit at the fair and go global."

Import exhibition space will grow to 20,000 square meters from 15,000 square meters and the import exhibition, which is largely consumer products and industrial goods, will be the first stage of the fair.

The fair, formerly known as the China (Guangzhou) Export Commodity Fair, was first held in 1957 and is considered a weather vane for the country's foreign trade.

Earlier this year, the country's oldest trade fair officially changed its name to the China Import and Export Commodities Fair to demonstrate to the world China's efforts to increase imports and reduce its trade surplus - an imbalance which has triggered trade disputes with other countries.

Manufactured goods, textiles and garments, foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals are showcased at the first stage of each fair, which runs from April 15 to 20 and October 15 to 20. In the second stage, from April 25 to 30 or October 25 to 30, souvenirs and gifts, and commodities for daily use are exhibited.

The 102nd fair, which closed on Tuesday, reported a record US.45 billion in export business deals, a 2.9-percent rise on the spring fair.