Product quality on the rise

A total of 38 365 trade visitors were counted over the three days of the China International Hardware Show (CIHS) that was held in Shanghai at the end of November. They included 3 146 visitors who had come from abroad. These figures have been published by Koelnmesse, which organises the event in conjunction with the China International Hardware Association. That is a downswing of 16.5 per cent compared with the figure given for 2012 (46 368 visitors). Mentioned among the reasons for this was the one-off putting back of the fair dates, which resulted in a clash with the Thanksgiving weekend, a holiday of great importance to potential visitors from the USA. The next CIHS will be staged in September again, from18 – 20 September 2014 to be precise; after that it is scheduled to change to a date at the beginning of October, which would allow buyers to visit other fairs in the region. The number of exhibitors is put at 2 500, while the exhibition space amounted to 107 000 m². The exhibitors came from the areas of tools, hardware, fasteners, locks and fittings, security systems and electricals. The locks and fittings section had doubled its space, while the abrasives section saw growth of 60 per cent. “We can see substantial improvements in the design and quality of the exhibits,” is how Michael Dreyer, vice president Asia Pacific at Koelnmesse, summed up the event. What came up again and again in this connection was the fact that Chinese companies are deliberately building up and refining their own brands, for the growing domestic market among other things. The exhibitors included 200 companies from abroad: from countries such as Germany, Italy, the USA, Japan, South Korea and India. Taiwan was represented by several associations, the Taiwan Hand Tool Manufacturers’ Association, the Importers & Exporters Association of Taipei (IEAT) and the Taichung Importers & Exporters Chamber of Commerce. Once again the China International Building Hardware Show and the China International Locks & Security Show were held in association with the CIHS. Download: