bauma meets expectations
Even in difficult economic times bauma has not lost any of its importance and proved to provide the momentum the industry had hoped for. Summing up results on the last day of the trade fair, Dr. Christof Kemmann, Chairman of the VDMA-Sector Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery, said: "Our expectations for bauma 2010 have been met 100% - despite the volcanic ash clouds. bauma is the most important fair for our industry the world over and has confirmed that demand is clearly picking up."
Good visitor quality despite missing customers from overseas
Due to the air traffic ban at the beginning of the trade fair many visitors, especially from North America, Asia and Africa, were unable to reach bauma at all or only with a delay. Missing overseas customers and the difficult economic situation in the run-up to the fair resulted in the expected decline in visitor numbers against the previous event. 415,000 visitors from over 200 countries came to Munich. This is 17% less than in 2007. 65% of visitors came from Germany, 35% from abroad. For many companies the first, quieter two days at the fair were not all bad. The contact with fewer customers has produced more in-depth conversations, including even spontaneous sales, says Winfried Böhm, Director at Liebherr International AG.
Volcanic ash paralyses partner country's activities
The effect of the air traffic ban, however, was extremely negative for the partner-country's activities. The partner country of bauma 2010 was India. The Indian Minister for Transport and Traffic, Kamal Nath, and some high-calibre delegations from India could not make it to bauma at all. In particular, the seminars and country specials scheduled by VDMA on the first two days of the fair had to be cancelled or "re-manned". Towards the middle of the fair the situation relaxed; at the end of the day, approximately 1,000 trade visitors found their way from India to Munich.
bauma - trade fair of superlatives
bauma is considered the mecca of the international construction equipment and building material machinery industry. It is the biggest trade fair in the world. This year 3,150 enterprises from 53 countries exhibited construction equipment, vehicles, building material machines and mining equipment on 555,000 square metres. bauma is held in Munich every 3 years. It is an innovation fair and seen as business climate barometer. VDMA is the conceptual-technical sponsor of this leading trade fair. The next, 30th edition of bauma will take place from 15 to 21 April 2013.
