Nr. 13/2012 Trade fairs in Germany: Sharp rise in foreign exhibitors from Central and Eastern Europe In 2011 most companies came from Italy and China 09.08.2012 In 2011 non-EU countries in Europe attended German trade fair venues in increasing numbers. Thus, last year exhibitor numbers from Russia rose by 12 %, from Turkey by 13 % and from Croatia by over 30 %. These are the latest results of a survey carried out by the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA). In 2011, 159,945 exhibitors took part in 134 international trade fairs in Germany, of whom 88,608 (55.4 %) came from abroad, 5 % more than at corresponding previous events. Clearly, numerous countries want to increase their chances on the export market by attending German trade fairs which not only target the German market but which annually also attract around 2.5 million visitors from other countries. Participation by exhibitors from EU countries rose by an overall 3.8 %, and there is clearly additional potential here. Countries experiencing particularly serious financial problems are focusing on exports by using German trade fairs as a platform. Thus, the number of representations from Portugal grew by 10 %, from Spain by 7.5 %, and from Greece by 6 %. Participation from Italy, the country with the largest number of exhibitors at German trade fairs from abroad, grew by over 2 %. There was a significant increase in representations from Central and Eastern European countries: 24 % more exhibitors from Romania, 18 % more from the Czech Republic and 11 % more from Slovenia. The Baltic states reported double-digit growth, whereas exhibitor numbers from Hungary fell by 16 %. Looking beyond Europe, the region most represented at German trade fairs is Southern, Eastern and Central Asia, and the gap is growing as well. On average, exhibitor numbers rose by more than 6 %, and there were double-digit increases from those countries most represented: a 10 % rise from the People’s Republic of China, 9 % from Taiwan, 11 % from Korea and a 14 % rise from Japan. However, participation from India, the second largest country in the region, remained comparatively low. Following stagnation in recent years in 2011 exhibitor numbers from North America rose by 3.6 %. The increase in the number of exhibitors from the Middle East attending German trade fairs was close to 10 %. Exhibitor numbers from South America fell by 4 %. Of the three countries most represented only Mexico gained slight ground, while numbers from Brazil and Argentina fell by 14 % and 5 % respectively. Exhibitor numbers from Australia and Oceania rose by only 3 %, a below-average result. As in recent years, the country with the largest number of exhibitors at national trade fairs in Germany was Italy (11,348), ahead of China (9,482). Next were France (5,261), the Netherlands (4,660), the USA (4,651), the UK (4,576) and Spain (4,107). They were followed by Austria (3,510), Switzerland (3,203) and tenth-placed Taiwan (2,864), which was marginally ahead of India (2,832). The countries which took part in more trade fairs than any other were Austria and Switzerland, which were each represented at 130 national trade fairs, ahead of Italy (125), France and the UK (123 each). Graphic: download Press contact: Harald Koetter, phone: +49 30 24000-140, fax: +49 30 24000-340, email: h.koetter@auma.de Veröffentlichung kostenfrei Beleg erbeten / Publication free File copy requested Copyright © 2010 AUMA_Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V. Last update: 8/2012