Despite the current slowdown in world demand, Chinese exporters have shown a great interest in participating in the upcoming China Import and Export Fair, a gauge of the state of China's foreign trade.

"More Chinese companies are hoping to attract foreign buyers by showing their products at the fair," Liu Jianjun, spokesman for the fair, said on Tuesday.

The twice-a-year fair, also widely known as the Canton Fair, will open on Sunday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

Chinese businesses have submitted more than 100,000 applications to reserve exhibition booths. That is almost double the number of booths that will be provided by the fair's organizing committee, Liu said. "We can only approve 60 percent of the applications," Liu said, noting that the fair's spring session will have 700 more booths than last year.

About 20,000 Chinese exporters will display their products at the fair, he added.

Chen Shubo, president of Chaozhou Porcelain Capital Co, said his company had to ward off shrinking profits by attracting new buyers at the fair. The company, a frequent participant at the fair, has seen a decreased number of orders from buyers from traditional markets in recent years.

"Domestic porcelain producers will likely face more difficulties in shipping products to the European market this year as the EU has planned an anti-dumping investigation against Chinese household ceramics companies," he said.

In another development, about 200,000 foreign buyers, slightly fewer than were present at the previous session, are predicted to attend the spring fair, Liu said.

The organizing committee plans to invite about 1.1 million domestic and foreign buyers to the event, up 12 percent from the previous session. "We are trying to invite more multinational chain enterprises and international buyers," he said.

At the previous session, more than 210,000 foreign buyers were present. "More buyers from emerging markets have been invited," Liu added.

Local hotel reservations are a reflection of the number of foreign buyers who are coming to the fair, said Tan Huawei, an e-commerce market director with the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou.

In February, the hotel opened a new website that allows foreign customers to book rooms online. Since then, the number of potential fair guests from Southeast Asian countries, Brazil, Russia and the Middle East nations has increased greatly, Tan said.

"Most of them are going to attend the Canton Fair," Tan said.

The number of Japanese guests, meanwhile, is increasing in part because of the reconstruction work that is taking place to repair the damage left behind by the deadly earthquake that hit the that country in March 2011, Tan said. "They are coming to China to buy more construction materials," he said.

Citing an analysis report that looked at the room bookings, Chen said fewer foreign purchasers are coming from wealthy markets such as Europe and the United States.

"In the current global economy, foreign companies are more willing to sell their products in China rather than to buy goods at the fair," he said.

Sources with the fair's organizing committee said more than 700 new exhibition booths will be added to 111th Canton Fair during the event's third phase.

"Most of the new booths will be designed for foreign companies to promote imports," said the fair spokesman.

"A growing number of foreign companies are really willing to sell their products in China since they know exporting could help boost the local economy and create jobs," Liu said.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn