The 99th session of China's largest export commodities fair is expected to draw 180,000 overseas buyers and a record number of exhibitors, a fair spokesman said in Guangzhou Thursday.

A primary indicator of foreign trade, the fair would have an exhibition area of 270,000 square meters with 30,058 booths when it opened on April 15, said Xu Bing.

The 12-day fair had received registrations from 177,000 overseas buyers from 210 countries and regions, Xu said.

Of the 13,868 exhibitors, 29.32 percent are state-owned companies, and 58.36 percent are privately-owned and foreign-invested companies.

A total of 29.43 billion US dollars of deals were signed at the previous fair in October 2005. Transactions at the biannual fair accounted for a third of China's general trade every year.

Buyers included 74 multinational retailers such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The top five purchasers were the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States, Taiwan Province, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

（Source: Xinhua）