The 98th Chinese Export Commodities Fair will open in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on Saturday, announced a spokesperson for the fair Thursday.

Xu Bing, the spokesperson, said that 12,655 enterprises from home and abroad will attend the fair, 376 more than that attending the previous fair. The 98th fair provides 28,808 exhibition stands, 798 more than the previous one.

Dubbed the "No. 1 Exhibition of China", the Guangzhou fair is an international exhibition with the largest scale and longest history and is the most productive trade fair in China. The trade fair is held twice a year and its transaction volume accounts for one-third of China's total trade volume annually.

Xu said the 98th Guangzhou fair will also be held in two phases. The first phase is for the export of textiles and clothing, medicine and health care products, and the second one for gift products and daily consumer goods.

Xu said the organizing committee of the fair invited 280,000 overseas purchasers from 210 countries and regions to attend the fair, 14 percent more than the previous fair, held in the spring this year. Ten multinational corporations, such as Carrefour of France, QVC of the United States and AIDA of Denmark will conduct purchasing at the fair.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)