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April 2008
Messe Düsseldorf North America EXCELLENT SUCCESS FOR WIRE AND TUBE 2008The recent concurrent staging of wire 2008, International Wire and Cable Trade Fair, and Tube 2008, International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair, attracted 2,157 exhibitors (1,129 companies at wire and 1,028 companies at Tube) on more than 1 million square feet of exhibit space. A total of 73,600 trade visitors from more than 90 countries took part in both events. “Every two years, Düsseldorf becomes the international meeting point for specialists from the wire, cable and tube industry. Here, they can meet face to face and fill their order books,“ commented Werner M. Dornscheidt, President and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. The 40,700 visitors (an increase of 3.9% compared to the 2006 event) at wire 2008 came from 72 nations and about 58% of the attendees were from outside of Germany. Tube 2008 was attended by 32,900 visitors (a visitor plus of 9.7% compared to 2006) from 71 nations, with 52% traveling from countries other than Germany. The majority of the non-German visitors at wire 2008 were from France, India, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Italy, the U.S., Poland, Brazil and Belgium while the leading foreign visitor nations at Tube 2008 were Italy, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, India, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belgium and Spain. The U.S. was also well represented on the exhibitor side: 72 companies exhibited at wire 2008, including 29 companies within the North American Pavilion, organized by Messe Düsseldorf North America (MDNA) and sponsored by the Wire and Cable Industry Suppliers Association (WCISA). Tube 2008 featured 39 U.S. companies, including 15 exhibitors within the North American Pavilion which was also organized by MDNA and co-sponsored by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). “Once again, Düsseldorf has proven to be the number one platform for the wire and tube industries,“ stated Joachim Schäfer, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf. “The exhibiting companies and visiting trade fair guests were truly enthusiastic with the results of the trade fairs. Many large and also medium-sized businesses have told me of new, promising business contacts.“ Visitors gave both wire and Tube 2008 top ratings. Most wire visitors were interested in machinery and systems for wire production and processing, materials, specialty wire and cables, testing technology, measuring and control technology as well as process engineering tools. The visitors were mainly from industry (80%), retail (8%) and the trades sector (4%). The areas of environmental technology, energy efficiency and logistics, which made their debut at wire 2008, were assessed as important by 10% of the visitors. Tube visitors were interested primarily in tubes and accessories, tube production and processing machinery as well as in systems for the processing of tubes. Raw materials were also in high demand. 61% of the visitors came from industry, 21% from the retail and 7% from the trade sector. Pipelines and OCTG technologies were rated as attractive additions to the trade fair portfolio by 10% of the Tube attendees. Manufacturers of process engineering tools, companies producing machinery for the production and refining of wire, materials manufacturers and companies offering specialty wire and cables were all very pleased with the trade fair. The exhibitors praised the excellent dialogue with the attendees and their high decision-making authority. “The demand for high-quality steel products has grown significantly over the past years. As a globally active all-round supplier of specialized steel products, we are very happy about this positive development,” explained Benedikt Niemeyer, CEO of Schmolz + Bickenbach AG. “Based on the current order situation and the feedback from our customers, we are expecting excellent utilization of our plants in the future as well. This assessment is confirmed by the high level of interest from the trade visitors at our stand at wire 2008. For us, the trade fair was the ideal platform to inform numerous potential buyers from our main sales markets about our expanded group portfolio in the areas of production, processing and distribution.“ With its exhibit categories including various tube materials and accessories, production machinery, process engineering tools, auxiliary materials and the new addition – pipeline and Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) technology - Tube 2008 managed to bridge the gap between traditional tube production and processing and new processing methods. “The two trade fairs, wire and Tube, have met all expectations we have of leading international trade fairs. For us, they proved to be outstanding platforms with the expected high level of visitor sophistication. The economic result is positive, while our customers are very concerned about the development of the raw material prices,“ commented Dr. Ing. Joachim Schönbeck, Chairman of the Management Board of SMS Meer GmbH. The next staging of wire and Tube will take place in 2010 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Exact dates will be announced at a later date. For further information on visiting or exhibiting at wire or Tube 2010, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com. Or visit the web site http://www.mdna.com. # # # |