Ferroforma reaches full capacity

Over these four days in October a total of 1 150 exhibitors will be occupying a net display space of 40 245 m2 in eight halls. The exhibitors will be presenting an international showcase ranging from hand and power tools through to hardware and structural components as well as industrial chemicals. Companies representing the category of manufacturing supplies will take up 29 per cent of the space. Following them are manufacturers of hand tools at a 19 per cent share of total area, hardware at 15 per cent, metalworking products at 8 per cent, and fasteners at 6 per cent. The remaining space is divided up between the categories of power tools, DIY, structural components, industrial chemicals, fittings, woodworking machinery, garden and household goods, as well as publications and services.
Almost half of the exhibitors will be coming to Bilbao from abroad. Most strongly represented are Germany, India and Portugal along with China, Taiwan, France and Italy, who are participating at the fair within the framework of group stands.
On the visitor side as well the organisers are hoping for further growth in internationalisation. Within this context the Bilbao International Exhibition Centre runs a great number of campaigns designed to make Ferroforma even more attractive as a fair destination for international trade visitors.
The internationality of Ferroforma is rising on the exhibitor and visitor sides alike.
It is the organisers’ declared goal to further increase the number of visitors this year. The last event in October 2000 recorded an attendance figure of approx. 18 600. This year’s Ferroforma is the 15th to be staged and the last to be held in the current exhibition halls. Available at the new exhibition site from 2004 will be a show area that is 40 per cent more extensive.
For the first time in the history of the fair the Bilbao organisers are putting on a “Ferroforma evening” and inviting industry representatives to attend the event, to be held in the atrium of the Guggenheim museum on 22 October. What is more, a visitors’ club has been initiated to make it possible for business relationships to develop more easily during the four days of the fair.