Saturday, April 29, 2006

PIEDRA 2006

Architecture award

PIEDRA, the International Fair of Natural Stone and the Spanish Federation of Natural Stone (F.D.P.) foster a greater knowledge and popularity of Spanish natural stones, and to this end they are jointly holding the PIEDRA 2006 Architecture Award.

The award ceremony will coincide with the biennial trade fair PIEDRA, scheduled to take place at Feria de Madrid, from 10th to 13th May 2006. The award is open to architecture projects anywhere in the world, provided they have made significant use of Spanish natural stone.

The award recognises contemporary professionals who have made use of Spanish natural stone in constructions of any kind, in which it is outstanding for its singularity, innovation, application techniques, aesthetic achievement, etc.
The award ceremony will take place during PIEDRA 2006 (10th to 13th May) in Madrid.

Marble 2006

A growing exhibition

The organizers of »Marble 2006«, which takes place in Izmir/Turkey from 29 March to 1 April 2006, expect over 1,000 exhibitors from 35 countries and about 45,000 trade visitors. The international natural stone and stone technology exhibition that first started in 1995 has some rapid growth to show. The premi??re of this event attracted just 47 exhibitors on a stand space of 2,600 m². Many natural stone experts meanwhile rate »Marble« as the world??s third most important trade fair after »Marmomacc« in Verona and »Stone+tec« in N??rnberg.

The event is also a fairly accurate reflection of the Turkish natural stone industry, which has developed very strongly in the past years. Turkey currently has some 1,000 quarries, from which over 280 different natural stones ?C mainly marble and travertine ?C are extracted. The material is processed in about 1,500 factories and 7,500 workshops with a total of approximately 250,000 employees.

China Xiamen Stone Fair

Exhibition on the way up

The »China Xiamen Stone Fair« (abbreviated to CXISF 2006) takes place for the sixth time in the Chinese natural stone centre of Xiamen (Fujian province) from 3-6 March 2006. The exhibition has clearly progressed since its premi??re in 2000 and the number of exhibitors and visitors at last year??s exhibition increased appreciably. The 35,000 trade visitors equated to 35 % growth over the previous year and included 3,000 international visitors from 67 countries. The 350 exhibitors occupied an area of 20,000 m².
As reported by the organizers, the CXISF 2006 will be considerably larger again. The display area is now 42,000 m² and about 450 exhibitors are expected. Simultaneous translation of conferences and free organized visits to quarries and stone works in the region are to attract even more international visitors to Xiamen.
80 % of the available display area is already firmly booked. More and more foreign companies ?C also from Europe ?C are recognizing the market potential this exhibition offers. 75 % of the international exhibitors registered to date are first-time exhibitors, including companies from Italy, Turkey, Australia, Japan, India, Spain and Switzerland. The international trade press is also out in force (including the STEIN journal from Germany).
There are currently about 4,000 stone processing firms and some 500 import and export companies in the Xiamen region. Natural stone exports from Xiamen reached an equivalent of some 1.4 billion dollars in 2004 and imports some 400 million dollars.

The Big 5 Show

From 16th to 20th of November at Dubai International Exhibition Centre

The Gulf countries have a young, ever-growing population, leading to massive housing requirements, and oil revenues continue to drive a construction boom in both the public and private sectors. The ongoing construction boom throughout the Gulf is the result of an extremely active public sector and the commitment of Governments to develop and enhance their infrastructures, leading to the commissioning of hospitals, mosques, fire stations, tourism and educational facilities.

The region??s public sector has budget allocations worth millions of dollars for infrastructure maintenance, including airports, hospitals, schools, streets and parks - for example, with desalination providing 80% of the annual requirement, the UAE alone will spend in excess of US$ 7 billion over the next 25 years to develop its water resources, with a series of new plants planned or in development throughout the Emirates.

Private sector development is even more ambitious, with the focus throughout the region firmly on hotels, leisure and commercial developments, shopping malls, apartment blocks, residential developments and office towers, as the growth and significance of the tourism trade continues at a rapid pace.

Against this backdrop, and with significant new developments announced throughout the region on a regular basis, architects, designers and contractors are already looking forward to seeing the very best and latest that the world has to offer at 2005??s Big 5, which takes place from 16th to 20th of November at Dubai International Exhibition Centre.

Showcasing building and construction, water technology and environment, air conditioning and refrigeration, cleaning and maintenance, glass and metal, bathrooms ceramics and kitchens, marble and machinery, the Big 5 has the deserved reputation of being the event where the major business deals are concluded, generating business from the UAE, GCC and beyond.

Internationally acknowledged as the most important meeting place for the regional industry??s decision-makers, who have access to millions of dollars for the purchase of the latest technology, products and services, there has been stronger than ever demand for space at this year??s show, which is already completely sold out with six months still to go before the show opens.

Stonetech 2006

The 13th China International Stone Processing Machinery, Equipment and Products Exhibition (STONETECH 2006 SHANGHAI will be held between April 10 to 13, 2006 in Shanghai, China.

Nowadays there are many shows about Building materials in Asia, but not a show can be compared with STONETECH in stone area! Last edition, 587 companies from 23 countries exhibited on an area of 38,000 sq-m in STONETECH 2005 and found the possibility of attracting 43,482 professional visitors from 63 countries. The registration of STONETECH 2006 is as good as our expectation. Up to now there are more than 600 companies from home and abroad. In 2006, Iran, Taiwan, Portugal will debut as national pavilion which will be another highlight of the fair.

As the organizer, we know deeply how important the visitor is. So in order to maintain both the quality and volume of the visitors, STONETECH is supported by an extensive advertising and activities during the fair that penetrates every facet of the China and world stone market. We made advertisements in all the main trade journals serving stone industry, architecture, building and so on and regular press releases to around 80 publications and websites. In the most well-known fairs, you can find our marketing booth.

STONETECH has been around for 12 years, but it always brings some fresh ideas, new visitors, new business opportunities and competition. It has been keeping stunning growth rate these years by making available the list of attendee data base. Under the support from exhibitors and visitors and our efforts, STONETECH become the first stone event approved by UFI in Asia which will make it stronger and stronger.

STONETECH is your best opportunity to penetrate ALL industry segments, generate leads and increase sales.