Big increases from Latin America and Eastern Europe
Last year more exhibitors from all over the world came to exhibitions in Germany. All told, there were around 118,000 foreign exhibitors at the 178 international and national exhibitions, 4.4% more than at the respective previous events. These figures were surveyed by AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry.
The region that grew most in 2018 was not Asia but Latin America (+16%), followed by Africa (+10%). The main reason for this strong showing by Latin America was Mexico’s role as partner country at the Hannover Messe 2018. Mainly as a result of this, Mexico had a total of 502 exhibitors (+62%) compared with the respective previous events. However, Colombia (+50%) and Chile (+19%) also increased significantly while Brazil only managed +3% and Argentina fell by 14%. Leading the field by a margin of 4,000 participants, the People’s Republic of China was again the most important exhibiting country with a growth rate of 7%.
Some of the other countries among the 20 biggest exhibitors also showed significant increases, such as Spain (+5%), Turkey (+10%) and the Republic of Korea (+11%). Also noteworthy were the 28% growth in Russian participants and an increase of 43% for Ukraine, whose exporters are clearly becoming more West-oriented.
In contrast, there were also countries with significant decreases, such as the United Kingdom with -5%. It is difficult, however, to determine the role played here by uncertainties about the country’s exit from the EU.
The significantly increased participation by Africa is mainly due to growth in the, already, most important exhibiting countries: South Africa (+13%), Egypt (+10%) and Morocco (+9%). Additionally, a number of countries in Central Africa have launched export initiatives.
Among the continents and economic regions, besides Latin America and Africa, Europe’s non-EU countries (+11%), South, East and Central Asia and the Middle East (6% each) enjoyed the highest growth, while the EU managed +2%.
Images:
© Koelnmesse GmbH, IDS, Harald Fleissner