A foreign merchant tries a steam iron at the Canton Fair, which ended on Friday in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. [Photo by Qiu Quanlin/China Daily]

China's foreign trade is expected to sustain an upward trend in the near future, as more export-oriented companies focus on developing new levels of competitiveness, according to the spokesman of the nation's biggest trade event.

"Chinese exporters are no longer manufacturers focusing on intensive production and lower pricing to compete in the global market," said Xu Bing, spokesman of the Canton Fair.

The Canton Fair－h(huán)eld twice a year and known as the China Import and Export Fair－concluded on Friday in Guangdong's provincial capital of Guangzhou with reported total transactions at the spring fair increasing by 6.9 percent year-on-year to 206.357 billion yuan ($30 billion).

"Development of new competitiveness－including technology, brands, quality and services－is reasons behind the increased transactions for Chinese exporters," said Xu, also deputy director of the China Foreign Trade Center.

There were 196,490 overseas buyers from 213 countries and regions visiting the fair, a rise of 5.87 percent year-on-year.

"We can see that more companies participating in the Canton Fair displayed products with higher quality and design, which offer high added values and are more competitive in the global market," Xu added.

The spokesman said more companies were attaching importance to innovation and building overseas branding and sales centers.

Transactions at the brand exhibition areas during the fair increased by 16.9 percent year-on-year to $10.9 billion, accounting for 36.3 percent of the total.

Su Cheng, general manager of Taizhou Chenghao Machine Mould Co Ltd, said Chinese homegrown moulds, which are of high quality with competitive prices, had also been sold to developed markets.

"The demand for Chinese moulds has been increasing recently in developed markets, which are traditionally powerhouses for high-quality industrial moulds," said Su.

According to Su, the company's moulds have been sold in major markets like the United States, Japan and Russia.

"The demand from developed markets began steadily increasing from the second half of last year. We are making efforts to developing high-quality moulds to satisfy the demand," said Su.

The Zhejiang-based company, which is mainly engaged in production and sale of moulds for industrial air conditioners, also develops garden pots which can automatically water flowers.