Hongqiao Import Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center, the year-round display and trading platform for the China International Import Expo, will see another 130,000-square-meter space be put into use this year, introducing imported cars, industrial products, medical equipment, healthcare products and luxury goods, said the Center's general manager Cai Jun during a media briefing on Saturday.

The newly constructed space will combine the functions of bonded exhibition, bonded trading, price formation and information disclosure, he said.

Another 100 branches affiliated to the Center will be set up across China by the end of 2025, said Cai.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Hongqiao International Coffee Harbor, which is also part of the Center, will launch the Shanghai coffee index by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, he added.

Located in Shanghai's Minhang district, Hongqiao Import Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center saw its first-phase construction gone operational in 2019, serving as the platform to transform the spillover effect of the CIIE into more business opportunities. Over time, it has introduced more than 6,000 brands from 90 countries and regions. Over 70,000 exhibits shown at the previous editions of the CIIE have become available to consumers at this Center. The Center's annual trading value approached 12 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in 2022.

With the first edition being held in 2018, the CIIE has been held for five consecutive years, with the accumulated value of intended deals reaching $345.8 billion. The sixth CIIE, which is scheduled to be held in early November, has seen the signed exhibition area exceed 260,000 square meters.