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Stone+tec 2005: Steady as a rock
With 1,058 exhibitors and once again 40,282 trade visitors, the 14th Stone+tec International Trade Fair Natural Stone and Stoneprocessing Technology impressed with its high level of stability despite the unchanged difficult conditions in the German and European building industry. The trade fair in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 25-28 May 2005 proved the determination of both exhibitors and visitors to face the challenges of new markets.
After some 25 years, Stone+tec took place this year for the first time from Wednesday to Saturday instead of Thursday to Sunday. "Moving the running time forward by a day has proved its worth right from the start," says Walter Hufnagel, Member of the Management Board of N眉rnbergMesse. "The Wednesday has taken the place of the Sunday in numerical terms, and the attendance on this new opening day was marked by a large international share and a high degree of authority. The following three days of the exhibition were as convincing as usual in both quality and quantity terms."
Signs of recovery in the market
Stone+tec as one of the industry´s biggest worldwide get-togethers is always a mood indicator. Whereas the mood in the run-up to the exhibition was still depressed due to the general economic conditions in Central Europe, a quite optimistic basic tendency developed during the exhibition. "DNV is satisfied with the frequency of visitors at Stone+tec 2005. A big demand for our native stones was still noticeable - despite the cheap competition from Asia," says Reiner Krug, General Manager of the Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband e.V. (DNV).
According to DNV calculations, German domestic consumption in 2004 rose over the previous year by 7.7 per cent in quantity, but its value dropped overall. A rise of 8 per cent was recorded for the quantity of exports, with a 14.8 per cent increase in value. "This shows that good prices can still be achieved for high-quality natural stones," says Reiner Krug.
Martin Schwieren, Master of the Federal Guild of the Deutsches Steinmetz-, Stein- und Holzbildhauerhandwerk (BIV), was impressed by this year´s Stone+tec: "Stone+tec has shown its sunny side once again. It has generated a positive signal to stimulate the whole industry. The Germans are buying again. BIV and DNV hope that the new natural stone logo introduced at the exhibition will provide an additional boost."
Positive surprise for the exhibitors
The success of Stone+tec 2005 was rather a surprise for many of the 1,058 exhibitors from 49 countries. The situation in the Central European building industry had ensured subdued expectations in the run-up to the exhibition. Just under a third of those interviewed rate the present situation in the industry as stable and around a quarter of them see a rising tendency. Particularly the new EU member states in Central Eastern Europe play a role here. "The exhibition corresponds to the market, which is currently in a revival cycle," is the view of Giancarlo Lazzaroni, Director of ACIMM (Associazione Costruttori Italiani Macchine Marmo e Affini - Association of Italian Marble Machinery Manufacturers). "The exhibition also confirms that market interests are shifting eastwards. The exhibitors in the machinery halls report an excellent level of potential customers."
Exhibitors from the natural stone segment of the exhibition also shared this view: "Today was a real success with around 5,000 visitors on our stand and over 300 newly registered trading customers. We are especially pleased about the very good nationwide response to our brand strategy. Perseverance also pays off for exhibition presence - just wait until 2007," says Thomas Rossittis, Director of Rossittis GmbH Naturstein-Import, Germany.
The top exhibiting nations after Germany were Italy, the People´s Republic of China and - as shooting star in the N眉rnberg natural stone sky - Turkey. Plenty of innovations were assured: Three out of four companies presented a new or improved product at Stone+tec 2005.
The demand was accordingly large: more than half the exhibitors reported direct orders during the exhibition and eight out of ten companies expect follow-up business. Eight out of ten exhibitors were satisfied with the professional competence of the visitors on their stand and nine out of ten reached their most important target groups at Stone+tec 2005.
"We also exhibit at GaLaBau in N眉rnberg and are very satisfied with Stone+tec 2005," says a delighted Banu G眉ven, International Sales Manager Troas Minerals, Turkey.
94 per cent of the exhibiting companies welcomed visitors to their stand from countries other than Germany and over 90 per cent made new business connections. "We had very good contacts and visitors from Hungary, Poland, Austria and Bulgaria," confirms Emrah Senel, Manager Altay Mermer San. Ve Tic. Ltd. of Turkey. Over 80 per cent of the exhibitors were satisfied with the overall success of exhibiting in N眉rnberg. "We had to work hard on all days of the exhibition and are very satisfied with the result of Stone+tec 2005," says Franco Caruso, Marmi e Graniti S.p.A., Italy.
There was also a really good mood and atmosphere in hall 3 at Stone+tec 2005: The globally unique range of products for gravestones and grave design and the lavish stand design of the exhibitors again created a professional contact platform that no in-house exhibition can offer. At the special show "My Angel - Your Angel" at the heart of the hall, contemporary artists showed their new interpretations of an old-established theme with very different sculptures.
The world in N眉rnberg!
The visitor structure of Stone+tec was even more international in 2005: over 30 per cent of the 40,282 visitors came to N眉rnberg from 81 countries outside Germany. Particularly the attendance from some of the new EU member states in Central Eastern Europe showed clear growth rates, led by Hungary (+48 %), the Czech Republic (+13 %) and Poland (+7 %). This tendency has been increasingly noticeable at the N眉rnberg exhibition venue for some two years. "Whereas some exhibitors were missing, we noticed an interesting presence of experts. The attendance on our stand was very good. N眉rnberg has confirmed itself as a European exhibition and not only a German exhibition, which is also due to the presence of trade visitors from Eastern Europe.
The Wednesday as exhibition day was good for us," says Emanuela Galvani, Sales Manager Luigi Antolini & C. S.p.A., Italy. 44 per cent of the trade visitors came from the craft trades, 23 per cent from the industry, 12 per cent from the wholesale trade, 7 per cent from the retail trade and 5 per cent from the service sector, e.g. from consultant architects. 49 per cent said their area of responsibility was business and works management and 35 per cent manufacturing and production. Nine out of ten Stone+tec visitors are involved in procurement decisions in their company.
96 per cent of the visitors were satisfied with the products on display at Stone+tec 2005 and as many as 98 per cent rated the information and contact possibilities on the exhibition stands as good. 77 per cent felt their visit to the exhibition would encourage them to use the products and services seen here in their own work in future. For more than half of all visitors, Stone+tec is the only natural stone exhibition they visit. The new exhibition running time from Wednesday to Saturday is highly approved by visitors and exhibitors alike.
One exhibition with many highlights
The Peter Parler Award and the German Natural Stone Award presented during Stone+tec 2005 for outstanding achievements in the preservation of historic buildings and architecture respectively are intended as prizes and a public tribute to the creators and as a stimulus for colleagues and new talent. "The presentation of the German Natural Stone Award 2005, which took place for the first time in the exhibition hall itself on the DNV stand, was a complete success. The architects who participated in the subsequent tour of the exhibition were impressed by the variety of natural stones on display," says Reiner Krug, General Manager of the Deutscher Naturwerkstein-Verband e.V. (DNV).
The seminar on "Laying and Experiencing Natural Stone" held in the new congress centre CCN Ost attracted a full auditorium of over 200 tradesmen wanting to get to know the special requirements of working with natural stone tiles. The programme at this year´s Stone+tec was also enhanced by many seminars and information events organized by associations and institutions, such as Euroroc (European and International Federation of Natural Stone Industries) and eacd (European Association of Building Crafts and Design).
The next Stone+tec in the cycle takes place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from Wednesday to Saturday, 6-9 June 2007
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