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Furniture China reported that the 13th China International Furniture Expo, staged at Shanghai New International Expo Centre SNIEC, Pudong Expo Centre and Shanghai Science & Technology Museum, closed on September 15th after four days of most intense trade.

Over 38940 domestic visitors and 15,250 international visitors from 144 countries attended the event, one that is widely recognized as Asia's most important furniture trade show.

Preceded by the founding meeting of the World Furniture Confederation on September 10th and the opening of the 2nd World Furniture Congress on September 11th, the trade show opened its gates on September 12th with much fanfare. In his welcoming address, Mr Calixto Valenti, President of the UEA and the World Furniture Confederation, emphasized the exhibition's importance for the world furniture trade.

Furniture China, notoriously short on exhibition space, attained the record size of 220,000 sq.m. (1,980,000 sq. ft.). In order to cope with exhibitors' demand, the organizers added two venues to the traditional SNIEC venue - yet about 200 companies still remained on the 'waiting list'.

Says Wang Mingliang, founder of the exhibition: "SNIEC will soon complete two additional exhibition halls, which will allow us to add 23,000 sq.m gross of exhibition space. Also, we plan on using an additional venue and might even launch a joint project with a retail centre in 2008 - we do expect a total exhibition space of 350,000 sq.m. (3,150,000 sq. ft.)This move will help us accommodate all interested parties."

The World Furniture Congress opened a day ahead of the exhibition, offering participants a dense and comprehensive insight into the current issues and preoccupations of the World Furniture industry. The Congress was attended by 147 international and 356 domestic delegates.

Furniture China Show Attracts Over 15,000 International Visitors