China's agricultural fair draws record number of foreign traders

BEIJING - A record number of foreign traders will participate in the 14th China Agricultural Trade Fair (CATF) to be held in November in Southwest China's Yunnan province, organizers said on Tuesday.

Exhibition area for overseas attendees will also hit an all-time high, said officials at a press conference held by the Ministry of Agriculture, without disclosing an exact number.

Agricultural ministers and deputy ministers from more than 30 countries will attend the first forum at the 14th CATF, which is scheduled to run from Nov 5 to 8 in Kunming, capital city of Yunnan.

Themed "supply-side reform, industrial integration, green and sharing, innovative development", the fair expects over 3,000 companies and more than 300,000 dealers from home and abroad at an exhibition area of 70,000 square meters.

Specialized exhibition zones will hit 11 this year, including poverty relief, agriculture financial innovation and farm machinery zones.

The CATF is a high-level trade fair organized annually by the Ministry of Agriculture to promote the trade of agricultural products.

The accumulated trade value of the CATF reached 499.3 billion yuan ($73.7 billion) during the past 13 events.