The 12th China International Furniture Fair (Guangzhou) is expected to greatly help China's furniture industry regain development momentum in the wake of the nation's SARS disaster.

The fair, to be staged August 18-21 in Guangzhou, will be one of the nation's most important post-SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) international furniture fairs as well as one of the largest.

The event will be co-sponsored by the China National Furniture Association, the China Foreign Trade Centre (Group) and the Guangdong Furniture Association.

Market insiders pin high expectations on the event as a golden opportunity to rehabilitate the nation's furniture exports, which have been in the doldrums as a result of the SARS epidemic.

Exhibitors from 20 or so provinces and autonomous regions at home and from 13 countries and regions overseas will vie for orders with their latest home furniture, office furniture, home textiles, furniture accessories and components, and decorative and interior furnishings at the fair.

Exhibition space has reached 70,000 square metres, up 10 per cent from the 10th session held a year ago, disclosed Dai Xinguo, general manager of the China Foreign Trade Guangzhou Exhibition Corp, which manages the fair.

Dai said that fair organizers have been making great efforts to invite professional buyers to the fair by focusing their commercials on North America, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East, and also launching promotional campaigns at globally renowned furniture fairs abroad.

"The efforts are paying off,'' he said. "The large number of professional buyers that will be present will strengthen the position of the fair as one of the most important export-orientated furniture fair.''

Taking place at the same time and under the same roof, the 2003 China Hometextile Fair will feature some 150 renowned exhibitors showing off their latest and most trendy curtains, bed coverings and upholstery fabrics as well as fabrics for other uses.

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