Exhibitors and visitors were in an upbeat mood when the 13th China International Furniture Expo, closed on September 15th after four days of most intense trade. Staged at three exhibition venues, the Shanghai New International Expo Centre SNIEC, the Pudong Expo Centre and the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum Furniture China set new records: Over 49982 domestic visitors and 15783 international visitors from 144 countries attended the event, one that is widely recognized as Asia’s most important furniture trade show.
Preceded by the founding meeting of the World Furniture Confederation on September 10th and the opening of the 2nd World Furniture Congress on September 11th, the trade show opened its gates on September 12th with a festive act, hosting the world’s most important furniture associations. In a welcome note, Mr Calixto Valenti, President of the UEA and the World Furniture Confederation, emphasized the exhibition’s importance for the world furniture trade.
Furniture China, notoriously short on exhibition space, attained the record size of 220,000 sq.m. In order to cope with exhibitors’ demand, the organizers had added two venues to the traditional SNIEC venue – yet about 200 companies still remained on the ‘waiting list’. Given its size and importance for the Asian region it compares to shows like High Point, the Cologne Furniture Fair or the Milan Furniture Fair.
Over 90% of all exhibitors confirmed that they would take part again at Furniture China 2008, many of them asking for additional space. Says Wang Mingliang, founder of the exhibition: “SNIEC will soon complete two additional exhibition halls, which will allow us to add 23,000 sq.m gross of exhibition space. Also, we plan on using an additional venue and might even launch a joint project with a retail centre in 2008 – we do expect a total exhibition space of 350,000 sq.m. This move will help us accommodate all interested parties.”
The lack of space, however remained the sole complaint as exhibitors emphasized their satisfaction over the shows quality and visitors.
Mr. Stefano Testa, representing Nicoletti, a long time exhibitor at Furniture China shared his impressions during show: ‘Furniture China fair is an opportunity to present new models to existing customers – and so it’s definitely helping a lot. I have been seeing a mix of both new and old customers. I’m meeting all of my most important customers from the area from the Far East. And my colleagues are meeting their major accounts from Europe too as well as from America. So it’s definitely an international affair with a good opportunity to meet new customers. I’ve signed large contracts, big programs, as well as small samples for customers for those we hope will become big customers in the future. In terms of organization and logistics, I felt that the fair was pretty well organized.’
Another important exhibitor Charlie Oulton from Halo Asia Ltd observed: ‘The fair is good because of the international flavour. I like the fact that Chinese and other manufacturers from around the world are here; as a result, the international buyers come, and that’s important. Well, most of our market from the UK comes here. That is, about 5% of all UK customers come here, but they are the more important customers, so we are happy about that.’
This views are shared by Mr. Liu Hong from Kuka, a domestic market leader for upholstered furniture: ‘We started participating at this fair since 2000 and it is definitely helping us to present our new models. Each year there are many old and new customers.’
Indeed, an independent survey showed that 40% of all visitors were new to Furniture China, a figure that shows how much new business is created. 86% of all visitors were in the position to make or recommend buying decisions.
Also visitors were in a very positive mood during the exhibition: “We’ve seen quite a lot that is useful. It is a big fair, a lot of furniture, artwork, dining furniture, solid timber. I’m looking for domestic furniture with artwork. Definitely seen some good stuff! We’ve done some deals, we are part of a buying group, and we’ve made some deals. It’s bigger than any other fair I have been to – it’s major!” said Don Lee, Manager Housewares at Arthur Barnett, New Zealand.
Dirk Lageman, Director at Greentrade, Australia, commented: “It’s about 10 times the size of other fairs I have been to! There’s too many to get through, even in 4 days, I really have to be focused about what I am looking for.”
Furniture China 2008 will be staged from September 10th to 13th, 2008. Further information and regular updates on Furniture China 2008 can be found at: www.furniture-china.cn. |