Organisers of the trade fair continue to be the China National Hardware Association and Koelnmesse. They want to give the trade fair a new image with a modified concept while maintaining the size scale. At the same time, Koelnmesse wants to attract more international exhibitors for the CIHS.
In the last five years, the CIHS has taken place in the Shanghai National Convention and Exhibition Center (Hongqiao). Due to the China International Import Expo, which has been taking place on the exhibition grounds since 2018, the timing of the CIHS was brought forward to an earlier date and the use of the venue was greatly limited. This resulted in difficulties and inconvenience for both exhibitors and visitors which had a negative effect on the entire event, admitted the event organisers.
At a joint press conference in January in Beijing, Zhang Dongli, chairman of the China National Hardware Association, and Keith Tsui, chief executive officer of Koelnmesse (Beijing) Co. Ltd., explained the, what they themselves call, sweeping changes. They state that this is a reaction to feedback from exhibitors and visitors. "The modified concept of the CIHS will remain market- and technology-orientated, will continue to focus on the development of added value for participants, will maintain the size scale of the trade fair and place an emphasis on the improvement of the quality and strengthening of service," said Zhang Dongli.
However, CIHS in Shanghai continues to be the largest hardware fair in Asia and the second largest in the world and also maintained this position in 2019. According the latest data, CIHS covered an exhibition area of 120 000 m² and accommodated more than 2 620 exhibiting companies. 40 356 visitors visited the show, including 3 565 visitors from overseas, up 8 per cent from the previous year.