The signed exhibition area for the third China International Import Expo, or CIIE, had surpassed more than half of its planned exhibition area by Feb 26, according to the CIIE bureau.

Several of the world's top 500 companies have registered as exhibitors for the third expo, taking number of enrolled enterprises past 1,000.

The second expo has brought many spillover effects, with imported goods now popular in many places in China. In North China's Shanxi province, many supermarkets have set up special areas for imported goods. Apart from the common chocolate and milk powder, there are also some goods exhibited at the CIIE, such as olive oil from Spain, cookies from Portugal and healthcare products from Australia.

Zhao Ping, director of the international trade research department at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Academy, said during an interview that imports are an important measure for local governments to promote opening-up. Imports of high-quality consumer goods and resource goods as well as technology, equipment and services will accelerate the quality of local economic development and meet people's needs for a better life.

Due to the increasing demand for imported goods in various regions in China, trading teams from across the country completed a considerable number of orders and reached many cooperation intentions during the previous expos, driving the continued release of expo spillover effects.

Meanwhile, China has taken the initiative to expand imports in recent years, continuously lowered import tariffs, opened up import channels, and encouraged the development of cross-border import e-commerce, which has attracted global enterprises.