There was much discussion and some considerable confusion before the opening of the two competing woodworking exhibitions in Beijing in March, the WM Fair/Furniwood China, and Chinawood.
Many European-based WBPI advertisers, who either make machinery for the panel industry, or supply ‘consumable’ products such as belts, resins and additives and so on, were uncertain what to do.
Should they comply with the advice of their national associations and support only the Chinawood event, attend both Chinawood and the established WM Fair, or just attend the WM Fair?
The situation arose because the European national machinery associations and their umbrella federation, Eumabois, say they received strong feedback from their members that the organisers of the WM Fair, Adsale Exhibitions, were over-charging for stand rental.
It seems undeniable that WM Fair’s rates were high by any standards; at least they were well before the show, when they stood at US$300-350 per m2.
“We had a clear mandate from our members to get the costs reduced,” said Georges Brun, president of Eumabois, when interviewed at the Chinawood event on March 7. “We tried to negotiate with Adsale but it was no good. We have said for some years now that US$150 per m2 is the maximum that should be charged.”
Mr Brun explained that Eumabois put their alternative show out to tender when seeking joint venture partners to organize the event and had only four replies. He said that Adsale was invited to tender but did not.
“We have been very pleased with our partner, Shanghai CMP Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co Ltd,” he said.
Eumabois also joined forces with the China National Furniture Association and the China Association for International Science and Technology Cooperation in organising the event.
Chinawood was held at the Beijing Exhibition Centre, a strikingly unusual building which really comprises a collection of assembly rooms. An exhibition partly lit by chandeliers was certainly a new experience.
The venue provided 16,000m2 of floor space and housed nearly 150 exhibiting companies from 14 countries and regions, with Germany having its largest-ever national woodworking pavilion in China, according to Eumabois. There were 25 companies from Taiwan and just nine from China.
Visitor numbers, although requested, were not available as WBPI went to press at the end of March.
Both WM Fair and Chinawood featured conferences and seminars alongside the exhibitions.
“We still hope to have only one exhibition in Beijing in future but we are set on our own path now,” said Mr Brun. “We charge all exhibitors the same rate per square metre. We already have the Taiwan woodworking machinery association on board and North America is seriously considering joining us. We will probably hold another exhibition in 2005, in the south of China.”
The WM Fair/Furniwood held its 10th biennial event in the China International Exhibition Centre (CIEC).
The event is held in a traditional, large setting of a group of big exhibition halls, although it has to be said that the CIEC is showing its age.
The WM Fair has the support of the State Forestry Administration of the Peoples’Republic of China, the China International Forestry Group Corporation, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and, this year, the China National Forestry Machinery Association.
As one major exhibiting company’s spokesman, and an experienced China hand, said: “The Chinese people pay a lot of attention to the ‘official’ view of a fair – the involvement of the ministry of forestry for example. WM had that kind of backing and, unless an alternative fair gets blessing at ministry level, they will find it difficult to stay in the market.”
This year’s WM event occupied nine halls, with one being reserved for Furniwood, the furniture accessories, materials and wood products section. Adsale reports 468 exhibitors, in a floor area of 35,000m2, and 32,102 visitors.
“We have cooperated well with Eumabois in the past, but two years ago there were policy differences, mainly with regard to price,” admitted Parry Chung, senior sales and marketing manager with Adsale Exhibition Services of Hong Kong, when interviewed at the show on March 4.
“We are aware that we need to make some changes but there are differences between, say, Ligna in Germany and this show. Yes, we do charge more per square metre than Ligna, but some visitors to Ligna are charged entry and they are charged for the catalogue, but not here; in China, we cannot attract the quality of visitors if we charge for entry or the catalogue. “We also need to consider the venue. This venue is owned by semi-government bodies and costs a lot more to rent than the Beijing Exhibition Centre, which is an old building with difficult access for large machinery. The organiser of Ligna in Germany also owns the [Hannover] venue and does not have to rent on the open market.”
It should be mentioned here that Chinawood also offered free entry and a free catalogue.
I asked Mr Chung why, if he could reduce the price for ‘last minute’ bookings from European companies to levels below those charged by Chinawood – which he did - he did not do so before.
“We didn’t say [to Eumabois] that there would be no negotiation on price but we cannot move too fast; we need to go step-by- step in price reduction. Eumabois did not agree with this. We have reduced the price per square metre step-by-step since 2000 and we will consider reducing our price again for 2006,” he replied.
“We have booked this venue again for 2006 (March 7-10) and we want to enter a dialogue with Eumabois about this. We try to listen and to do what we can. We will collect opinions from our potential clients and then work out a plan.”
Mr Chung admitted that Chinese exhibitors pay less than overseas companies at his fair and said his company needed to increase the rents for these companies in order to reduce charges to those overseas.
So what did the exhibitors think? At WBPI, we conducted a survey of the major exhibitors, for the panel industry only.
The unanimous view of respondents was that there must be only one, biennial, show in Beijing in the future and that the charges for stand space must fall within the range of US$150 to a maximum of US$180 per m2. The vast majority of them believe that Adsale will reduce its rates for 2006 to acceptable levels. That remains to be seen of course.
Views on the relative merits of the two venues were approximately equally divided.
A majority of respondents indicated that they believed their customers preferred the WM Fair, mainly because it had a lot of Chinese exhibiting companies.
The majority of those respondents who exhibited at both events felt that WM attracted the greater number of important contacts for them and that it offered the better value. But, it must be pointed out that, in most cases, these companies booked into WM fair late and thus paid much lower rates – maybe 50% lower – than those which booked well in advance.
On the question of which event they would support if both were to be repeated in 2006, 60% said WM Fair, while 40% said they would follow the advice of their national association.
The message, and perhaps the challenge, to the organisers of both The WM Fair and Chinawood, from the major European suppliers to the panel industry in China, and not from this magazine itself, is clear.
They want one show, in Beijing, at the right price, with a full range of exhibitors from China as well as around the world so that they have the best opportunity to promote their products to this very important market. That is the one objective.