Wal-Mart, Metro and other international retailers will purchase more goods from China, a national procurement fair in south China's Guangdong Province was told Wednesday.

Wal-Mart will spend US$22 billion on Chinese goods this year, an increase of 20 percent over last year, said Wang Tieming,a senior consultant with Wal-Mart China Investment Co. Ltd. at the Fourth China Consumer Goods Procurement Fair (CCGPF) in Shenzhen.

It has been in business contact with 20,000 providers in the Chinese mainland, added Wang.

Metro group, Germany's retailing giant, purchases about 64 percent of its overseas outsourcing goods from the Chinese market, said Lu Guoman, vice president with Shanghai Jinjiang Metro Shopping Center.

Besides Wal-Mart, some other multinational retailers like Carrefour, TESCO, B&Q and IKEA have also set up sourcing offices in Shenzhen, bringing their products standards and sales concepts to China.

The four-day CCGPF has attracted 18 purchasing teams from abroad and 8,500 agents and distributors from home. It will end Friday, according to the fair organizer.

(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2005)