The exhibitors will run 1,560 booths in eight different areas of the show grounds, with two designated for foreign suppliers and manufacturers from China.

The annual exhibition -- now in its 34th year -- is organized by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council and co-organized by the Taiwan Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association and the Taipei Sporting Goods Association.

The four-day event is expected to draw buyers from more than 50 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, India and France.

Statistics compiled by the organizers show that the exhibition last year attracted more than 13,000 visitors, including some 2,000 overseas buyers.

According to the organizers, distinguished foreign guests invited to the opening ceremony of the 2007 show include Manfred Wutzlhofer, chairman and chief executive officer of the Munich International Trade Fairs Group; Michel Perraudin, president of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI); and Kihachiro Onitsuka, honorary president of the WFSGI.

Products on display cover almost all sports, including equipment for golf, fishing, mountaineering, rhythmic gymnastics, skiing, camping, horse-riding, dart games, roller skating, fitness training, various ball games, and track and field activities.

There will be six trade seminars chaired by experts to inform Taiwanese suppliers of market trends in Japan, Brazil and the European Union.

Taiwan has long been a major production base for nearly all kinds of sport and recreation goods, supplying customers in countries including the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Australia.

In the past few years, Taiwan's sporting goods manufacturers have used innovative technologies to develop more advanced products and equipment, thus allowing them to maintain a competitive edge in the global supply chain, according to the organizers.