3rd China Catering Expo closes in Macao  

第3届餐博会在澳门开幕 将助澳打造旅游休闲中心

“此次餐博会的成功举办，一定能进一步丰富澳门餐饮市场，促进澳门餐饮旅游消费，为澳门打造世界旅游休闲中心有所帮助。”中国商务部副部长蒋耀平21日在澳门表示。

Macao (CNS) -- Hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and the Macao SAR's Secretariat for Economy and Finance, the Third China Catering Expo concluded Sunday in Macao.

The three-day event attracted over 500 enterprises from 20 countries and regions.

In recent years, the scale and level of China's catering industry has improved, said Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Yaoping at the expo's opening ceremony.

In 2011, catering retail sales amounted to 2.05 trillion yuan (US$326 billion), an increase of 16.9 percent over the previous year, which contributed to 11.2 percent of the growth in retail sales of consumer goods, according to Jiang.

More and more international food and beverage brands are entering China and more Chinese catering enterprises are becoming international, he added.

The expo aims to disseminate Chinese food culture, build-up branded catering enterprises, provide innovative development direction to the catering sector and strengthen international exchange and business cooperation.

The previous two expos were successfully held in Xi'an of Shaanxi Province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province.