The 113th Canton Fair, China's largest biannual trade fair and a barometer of its exports, opened today (April 15) in Guangzhou. The session will run till May 5.

Official statistics indicate that the number of exhibition booths has increased to 59,531, rented by 24,746 exhibitors from home and abroad.

The imported products pavilion, has witnessed an increased number of booths and exhibitors with 562 exhibitors from 38 countries and regions attending. Statistics also show that demand is so high for a spot at the fair that only 60 percent of all applicants are successful in renting a booth.

The organizer has sent 1.48 million invitations to buyers worldwide. It has sent more invitations to countries and regions which have had the biggest number of buyers before, and to the places which saw the number of buyers reduced sharply in the last session.

According to China Daily, Liu Jianjun, spokesman for the Canton Fair and deputy director of the China Foreign Trade Center, told media on a briefing that the value of deals signed at China's flagship trade fair may be on par with the previous session, which suggests improving sentiment about the world's biggest exporter.

" The number of overseas buyers at this session, according to our monitoring, is expected to edge up, and the value of export deals will be equal to that of the last session," Liu said.

He said uncertainties such as the H7N9 bird flu may take a toll on exports. However, the organizer had made an emergency plan and medical center in the fair has opened on April 10.

The last session of the Canton Fair, held in November, saw overseas buyers decrease by 10.3 percent to 188,000, while the value of export deals declined by 9.3 percent to $32.68 billion.