The city's mayor Du Changwen told the press in Beijing Friday that more than 2,000 domestic and overseas companies have registered to attend the fair.

Du said the fair consists of three parts: a platform for the transaction of forest products and related technology, a platform for the introduction of overseas investment and a forum on the development of China's forestry industry.

China initiated a project to protect its wild wood in 1998, in part the reason the country now spends around 9 billion US dollars per year on wood imports to meet domestic demand.

With a total wood stock of 12.82 million cubic meters, Heze is one of China's major forest product suppliers. It also accounts for more than 80 percent of China's tung wood exports.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2003)