The 12th China International Furniture Expo - Post Show Report

Furniture World News

The 12th China International Furniture Expo, staged from September 11 to 14, 2006, at Shanghai New International Expo Center, Shanghai Mart, Intex and Jisheng Wellborn, has closed with record figures: The show hosted 1477 exhibitors showing in over 1.9 million square feet of floor space (up 10% on 2005). A total of 61,290 visitors attended the four-day event, of which 12,241 were international buyers hailing from over 150 countries and regions. In line with the show management’s strategy to increase the global role of the show, international attendance was up 30% compared to 2005. In a parallel move and for the first time, entrance fees were charged, thus increasing the quality of visitor. The statistics confirm Furniture China’s prime position amongst leading Asian furniture exhibitions. The statistics also confirm that Furniture China has become an event providing business opportunities not only for Asian exhibitors but also for international exhibitors targeting the upscale Asian markets: Steep increase in participation was confirmed for visitors from Europe and the USA as well as from Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore for the Asian region. Exhibitors expressed their huge satisfaction with the amount and quality of business brought to them at the event. Not only the exhibitors from the traditional show sectors of ‘Home Furniture’, ‘Office Furniture’, ‘Furnishings’ and ‘Furniture Manufacturing’, who reported excellent results – but also the new shows ‘ZOW’ (second edition) and Kitchen Cabinet (first edition), each covering half an exhibition hall, also attracted excellent trade. With ‘Venue West’ Furniture China featured three additional exhibition venues, Jisheng Wellborne Shanghai Mart and Intex, taking pressure from the overbooked Shanghai International Expo Center (‘Venue East’). “Despite being newly introduced and with extremely bad weather conditions, the new venues were well accepted by our visitors” according to project manager Stella Zhong. On the closing day of Furniture China 2006, exhibitors rushed to confirm their exhibition space for 2007. Within hours 270,000 net sq. ft. of exhibition space for 2007 had already been reserved. “We are in the lucky position of having to deal with a luxury problem – we simply don’t have enough space to accommodate all wishes for exhibition space. Of course we will do our best allocate space the way that everybody can take part.” says Wang Mingliang, founder of Furniture China. Next year’s Furniture China will take place in Shanghai from September 12 to 15, 2007. In the U.S., Furniture China 2007 is represented by Globexpo, located in Rockville, MD 20850. Contact Alan Rosenthal at: Tel: (301)424-7060. Fax: (301) 424-7061. Email: globexpo@comcast.net.