Furniture China show's attendance increases

Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, November 5, 2011

SHANGHAI, China - Organizers of the 2011 Furniture China trade show held here said it had increased domestic and international attendance.
     The Sept. 14-17 event drew 74,564 visitors, according to a recently released show report. That included 51,972 visitors from China, up 9.7% from a year earlier, and 22,592 from overseas, an increase of 50.3% from last year.
     The event, held in conjunction with various office, kitchen and machinery and supply events, was held in more than 6 million square feet of space at the Shanghai New International Expo Center and the China National Furniture Expo at JSWB.
     It had 2,600 exhibitors, including 1,400 residential furniture, office and kitchen and cabinet products exhibitors and 750 showing woodworking machinery and raw materials. Another 450 showed at the JSWB site, which is about an hour's drive from the main Expo center in central Shanghai.
     The increase in visitors can be attributed in part to the cooperation between JSWB and Furniture China, officials said. Formerly the two were considered competing events, but in a show of industry unity, organizers of both chose to promote the venues as part of the single event this year.
     Of the international visitors, 2,555 or 11.3% were from North America and 4,331 or 26.3% were from Europe. A total of 8,653 or 43.3% were from other Asian countries, including Japan, India, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam.
     There were 1,961 visitors from Australia, 845 from Brazil and Mexico and 381 from Africa.
   The next Furniture China show is planned from Sept. 11-15, 2012. For more information, visit www.furniturechina.com.