Exhibitions planned to be suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai are expected to be rescheduled as the epidemic situation improves, an industry association said Wednesday.

Shanghai issued a notice to suspend exhibitions on January 30. It is expected to affect 70 exhibitions held between February to April in Shanghai's four major exhibition centers, according to the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association.

The total area of these exhibitions amounted to 4.32 million square meters, which is over 20 percent of the figure from 2019, with over 14 exhibitions larger than 100,000 square meters, the association said.

"We have contacted the hosts of the exhibitions, trying to reschedule these projects to some other time this year," said Tang Guifa, president of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) Co Ltd, a major exhibition venue.

"We'll strive to ensure that none of the 70 suspended exhibitions are missed," he said.

Shanghai has set a goal to have 20 million square meters of exhibitions in 2020.