The largest trade fair in China, which is set to open Friday for its first session of 2011 in southern city of Guangzhou, is expected to have less overseas buyers than the last session due to the north African unrest, Japanese earthquake and global inflation, organizers said Thursday.

The 109th China Import and Export Fair, more commonly known as the Canton Fair, has become so large that it is spread over three five-day sessions, twice a year.

"The number of overseas buyers is estimated to drop from 3 to 5 percent from that of the last session," said Liu Jianjun, deputy director of China Foreign Trade Center, the organizer, at a press conference held Thursday in Guangzhou.

According to available data, the number of overseas buyers from African countries such as Libya and Cote d'Ivoire, would dramatically decline, said Liu.

The number of Japanese buyers might also drop due to the earthquake, but the impact would be slight due to the efforts made by Japanese industrial and commercial institutions who said they would actively organize buyers to visit the fair.

More than 6,000 Japanese buyers came to the last session of the fair, said Liu.

Japan needs building materials for its earthquake reconstruction and China is well placed to meet much of that demand.

Japan is the third largest trade partner of China, and bilateral trade accounts for 10 percent of China's foreign trade volume, said Liu.

He noted that the number of buyers from the European Union and the United States should remain steady.

Contracts of imports to China signed at the fair are expected to increase from the last session driven by the central government policies in boosting domestic demand and the appreciation of the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB), or the yuan.

The RMB on Thursday gained 30 basis points from Wednesday to a record high of 6.5339 per U.S. dollar. It has appreciated over 1.32 percent from the beginning of the year.

The fair has opened a new center highlighting product design and trade promotion in China's drive for "indigenous innovation" and foreign trade growth pattern transformation.

This year the organizer will be making use of new technology that makes it easier for visitors to track the products they like. Visitors receive a digital badge when entering the fair, and then they can scan any object that takes their fancy.

This session of the fair takes up a record 1.16 million square meters -- 30,000 square meters more than last session -- of space inside Guangzhou's China Import & Export Fair Complex and will attract an all-time high of 24,415 exhibitors -- 816 more than last session.

The fair has readjusted the import zone by cutting its exhibit categories from 12 to seven, namely electronics and home appliances, building materials and hardware, mechanical equipment, industrial raw materials, food and agricultural product, medical care and beauty care products, gifts and adornment, while the export zone -- the majority of the fair -- remained organized into 15 major categories.

The first Canton Fair was held in 1957.