Shenzhen will launch a biannual trade fair organized by China South City, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

The first fair will be held next month, the Post said. China South City is the largest raw materials sourcing center in South China.

Exhibitors won't be charged rent for booths and overseas buyers would be subsidized and offered free transport to the Longgang venue, the Post said.

The four-day show, dubbed the China (Shenzhen) International Industrial Fair, would provide a platform for suppliers and buyers of textiles, clothing, leather, accessories, craft and gifts, electronics, chemicals and imported goods, China South City co-chairman Ricky Cheng Chung-hing said.

Supported by the city government, the fair will compete against the mainland's largest and oldest exhibition the Canton Fair in Guangzhou next month and other trade shows at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai.

The China South City center, owned by five Hong Kong businessmen including Cheng, occupies 100,000 square meters and is 11 times bigger than the Wan Chai exhibition and convention center.

"Our show complements the Canton Fair, which has too little space for too many exhibitors," Cheng said. "That's why our show will be held twice a year, in spring and autumn, at the same time as the Canton Fair."

The Canton Fair, officially the China Import and Export Fair, is cutting booth rentals to entice exhibitors and shortening the period of the show to 21 days from 23 days as visitor numbers shrink.

The China South City fair, which is from Oct. 22 to 25, has had 80 percent of its 3,000 booths, equivalent to 60,000 square meters, already booked, Cheng said.

"China South City itself is a sourcing center with about 4,000 wholesalers," he said.

Although the Canton and China South City shows overlapped in terms of time and products, the city government vice secretary general Nan Ling said the special economic zone would help the fair by creating 12 bus routes between Huanggang and Luohu checkpoints; free shuttle buses between Shenzhen and the Canton Fair in Guangzhou and between Hong Kong and China South City.

China South City will subsidize the first 1,000 overseas buyers with two nights' free accommodation and meals, sourcing support and logistics arrangements.