Transactions during the China Import and Export Fair, the country's largest trade event, will be for the first time announced in the form of yuan settlement, organizers said on Monday.

The 114th session of the twice-a-year fair, widely known as the Canton Fair, will open on Tuesday in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

The yuan strengthened to a 20-year high after the central bank set the currency's reference rate at a record high. The People's Bank of China raised its daily fixing by 0.08 percent to 6.1406 per dollar, the strongest since a peg to the greenback was lifted in July 2005.

A growing number of Chinese companies, such as Gree Electric Appliances Inc, one of the country's biggest home appliance manufacturers and exporters, have become keen on using yuan settlements.

Guangdong-based Gree conducted its first overseas yuan-denominated deal, valued at $500,000, in Brazil in 2011. The stronger yuan, combined with a complex global trade situation, has squeezed profits for a growing number of Chinese appreciation is a heavy burden for most Chinese exporters. We had to increase prices to make a sustainable business profit in overseas markets.