Berlin - Merchants placed record orders worth more than 3 billion euros at the IFA electrical-goods fair which was ending Wednesday in Berlin, organizers said.

IFA, previously an annual consumer-electronics fair, expanded this year to embrace home appliances such as washing machines. The fair organizers said the total order volume was up 10 per cent from a year ago.

The Berlin fairgrounds leased a record 122,000 square metres of booth space to exhibitors, erecting temporary pavilions to cope with the rush. Visitor numbers since Friday had totalled 220,000 by mid- morning on Wednesday, on a par with one year ago.

Home appliance makers were "very satisfied" with their admission to the event, a spokesman for the German home-appliance industry, Reinhard Zinkann of Miele, said. Their displays of new products had been "a great success."

IFA is Europe's biggest consumer electrical goods fair and is a prime venue to launch new products and attract interest from importers and retailers. (dpa)