BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China has been seeing more exhibitors from countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative last year, a report showed.

Over 26 percent of overseas exhibitors participating in China's exhibitions in 2017 were from countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative, up 15 percentage points year on year, according to a report from the Ministry of Commerce.

Exhibitions have become important platforms for China to further open up its market.

China held more than 5,600 exhibitions in professional display centers last year, up 1 percent year on year, while its total exhibition area grew 12.3 percent.

The industry raked in 87.2 billion yuan (about 13.84 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue, an increase of 12.3 percent compared with 2016. Daily consumer goods and services dominated the sector, followed by exhibitions of architecture, decoration and industrial technologies.