Hangzhou, capital city in Zhejiang province, will be a host to China's 3rd outdoor lifestyle show which is scheduled to open on March 4.

The four-day event co-sponsored by Hangzhou municipal government and China Chamber of Commerce for Light Industrial Products & Arts-crafts (CCCLIP) will be held at Hangzhou Peace International Exhibition Center.

More than 200 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions will showcase their exhibits involving outdoor furniture, tents and garden facilities on the area of 16,000 square meters, said Sun Yibing, deputy director of CCCLIP Exhibition Department.

"The show will play a platform for domestic producers to upgrade their products and technology with so many foreign brands introduced into China," Sun said.

He said China has set up an industrial base with about 100,000 firms involved to produce casual products, which mainly come from Shanghai and provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu.

"China is witnessing the fast development of its casual goods industry which grow by 3 per cent annually," he said.

China exported casual products of $39.5 billion last year, 24.2 per cent of the global exports, becoming a major exporter in the world.

Most products were sold to the markets in the United States, Europe and Japan. Exports of outdoor furniture, for example, were valued at $6.6 billion between January and November of last year with Shanghai accounting for 9.15 per cent.

Tents priced at $1.25 billion were sold to the markets of the US, Germany, Britain, France and Japan last year, with Shanghai taking up 6.5 per cent.

Li Qiangyu, deputy director of Hangzhou Foreign Trade and Economy Co-operation Bureau, said casual products will be a rising industry in the next decade due to the improvement of people’s living standards.

"The show will help improve the layout of the casual goods industry in the Yangtze Delta Region," said Li.

He said Hangzhou has the ambition to turn it into a window to the entry of foreign producers into the Chinese market.

"More foreign famous brands going into China will be a stimulus to upgrading Chinese firms' ability to design and produce casual goods," he said.

The show will hold summit forums to discuss the US outdoor furniture market and probe into the prospects for China's casual industry.