China is planning to increase its imports of African commodities by establishing an African Products Exhibition Center, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on its website Wednesday.

The exhibition center would be located in east China's Yiwu City in Zhejiang Province with a total area of 5,000 square meters in the Yiwu International Trade City, the world's largest marketplace for small commodities, said the ministry.

The center would serve as a platform to showcase African products to Chinese consumers and international buyers. All African companies at the center would enjoy a number of different measures to help facilitate trade.

China would support its domestic enterprises to build three to five trade and logistics centers in Africa in the next three years, so as to provide trade and logistics services and improve local commercial facilities, it said.

By the end of 2012, China would also have zero tariffs on 95 percent of its imported products from the least developed African countries that had established diplomatic relations with China.

China-Africa trade volume was 91 billion U.S. dollars in 2009.