KUALA LUMPUR - The 9th China Import and Export Commodities Exhibition featuring some of the world's largest manufacturers kicked off in Malaysia on Wednesday as both countries aimed to accelerate bilateral trade expansion.

The trade show, hosted by China's Ministry of Commerce, featured products from world's largest wire mesh export base Anping in Hebei province, rainwear merchandise from China's umbrella capital Jinjiang in Fujian province, hardware and building materials from China's heavy machinery production base in Jiangsu province and consumer goods from renowned commodity market Yiwu in Zhejiang province.

Hardware traders from seaport city Ningbo and wholesalers from China's fireworks city Liuyang, where fireworks used for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Shanghai Expo were manufactured, were among more than 300 exhibitors from the mainland, Chinese Taipei, South Korea and Southeast Asia at the fair.

"With the slow recovery in the US and the eurozone, we must increase our cooperation in sustaining the growth in our regional economies. Hence, there must be more business exchanges and linkages. Malaysia can assume the role in bringing China and ASEAN closer," Malaysia's deputy international trade and industry minister Jacob Dungau Sagan said before opening the exhibition.

"I believe the bilateral cooperation between China and Malaysia will leap forward. We can make full use of the favorable policies in the China-ASEAN free trade zone to widen the size of our bilateral trade and improve our shipment structure to achieve steady trading growth between our countries," economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Malaysia, Xuan Guoxing, addressed the launch ceremony.

Organizers said the fair was the only large scale exhibition organized by the Chinese government annually abroad.

Since its inaugural in 2004, the trade show saw more than 2,000 exhibitors from China and ASEAN and accumulated $390 million in business volume.

Trade between China and Malaysia increased from $18.7 billion in 2004 to $54.5 billion in 2011.

Total trade between China and ASEAN meanwhile jumped from $105.88 billion to $362.85 billion in 2011.

The exhibition runs through Dec 1.