Mena Carpet News Exclusive Interview with Aida Cuko / International Business Director at Domotex Asia CHINAFLOOR
VNU Exhibitions Asia, one of the earliest established exhibition organizer in China, is a Shanghai based company, part of Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs (VNU Group) – an exhibition organizer and venue owner headquartered in Utrecht, the Netherlands. With nearly 30 years of history, VNU Exhibitions Asia has partnered with international organizers to bring to China a series of world leading exhibitions such as DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR, R+T Asia, TCT Asia, Salone del Mobile.Milano Shanghai and VIV Qingdao. It has also launched a number of independent brand exhibitions that have grown to play an important international role, among which, the prominent Pet Fair Asia, Asia’s leading show in the Pet industry.
Our company’s mission is to encourage the integration of China and Asia Pacific market in the global mainstream of the exhibition industry and assist the strengthening of business relation between the region and the world in the industries that our exhibitions represent.
Let us know more about your events, exhibitions, and conferences in the textile and flooring sector.
Every year we host more than 20 exhibitions and conferences, with a total exhibiting area of over 1 million+ sqm, putting together over 12,000 exhibitors with over 1 million visitors. Particularly in the textile and flooring industry, and in the construction and interior design sectors in general, we co-organize every year in Shanghai DOMOTEX asia / CHINAFLOOR, Asia Pacific’s leading show in the floorcovering industry, part of the DOMOTEX family headquartered in Hannover, Germany.
We are also the co-organizer of R+T Asia, part of R+T Alliance, a Messe Stuttgart leading world trade fair for sun-shading, roller shutters and doors/gates. Salone del Mobile. Milano Shanghai, a China-dedicated edition of the world’s leading furniture show Salone del Mobile.Milan is also part of our portfolio.
How do you evaluate the carpet and flooring industry globally specially and in Asia in general?
Asia in general, and especially China, has been one of the most important sources of flooring products for all the world in the recent decades. The booming construction market in China and other important Asian markets such as India, and Southeast Asia, have created a favorable environment for the regional flooring industry growth. In particular, the growth of the hospitality sector, as well as that of the residential and housing market, have in particular pushed the development of the carpet sector and its entire supply chain.
Post-Covid, there have been developments that have created some challenges in this sector but also presented new opportunities. The residential real estate current difficulties in China but not only, are having an impact. On the other hand, some sectors, such as healthcare, education, etc. are increasing their demand for flooring. The shift to resilient and alternative flooring surfaces continues to take some share away from traditional carpets. However, the hospitality sector is seeing a tremendous rebound in the post-pandemic area as people return to travel, and renovation investments are coming back. Carpet tile demand in particular, is seeing an important growth.
Below is a hall layout of DOMOTEX asia/CHINAFLOOR 2023:
Can you share with us statistics and numbers about the china carpet and flooring industry? (like export and import numbers, number of fiıoring manufacturers, the government supports, and investment opportunities for the textile and fashion …industry … )
According to TradeEconomy, in 2022, China registered an export volume of 3,85 billion USD of carpet and other textile floor coverings. This was an increase of 2.8% compared to 2021. Pre-Covid, in 2019 it was at 2,9 billion USD, so, despite of trade difficulties during the pandemic, exports continued to grow.
The main export destinations of China-made carpets are the USA, Japan, and Southeast Asia, but Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq are also in the top 10 carpet buyers from China, and accounted for almost 15% of this export volume in 2022. The import value in 2022 was at 92 million USD. China imports carpets and textile floorcoverings mainly from India, Turkey, Japan and the USA, but also Egypt is an important carpet outsourcing country for Chinese buyers.
The government is continuously placing measures to support the trade in the carpet sector, such as tax incentives, loans as well as guaranteeing fair competition and IP and patent rights.
Why trade exhibitions in China are important? And what are your main mission and goals for organizing the Domotex Chinafloor event?
Trade exhibitions in China, like everywhere else in the world, have always been a unique face-to-face meeting platform that puts together a specific industry in one place at the same time. In the last 30 years, China’s economy has had a fast speed growth and has become world’s second-largest economy. Home to 1.4 billion of people, with the continuous increase of personal income and interest on international products, it has also become an important consumer market targeted by foreign brands. There is no other country in the world that can satisfy certain volumes of trade on both the manufacturing side as well as consumption aspects. This was reflected clearly on the exhibition sector, which saw the rising of some leading platforms at world level in various industries.
Especially shows like DOMOTEX asia, which are vertical to their own industry and covers the entire supply chain, have been chosen as the main place to develop partnerships between supply and demand; on the import side – Chinese buyers outsource international products, and on the export side – Chinese manufacturers reaching out to international buyers from the region and beyond. There is no other platform in the region to cover the entire industry in such a large scale.
DOMOTEX asia has always represented not only China but the entire Asian region, which is home to some new emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. In particular, the MENA region is an area of great interest for China and Asian flooring producers. There are some important construction plans in the Gulf region such as UAE and Saudi Arabia, which see an active involvement of the Chinese contractors. This year we are experiencing great interest from Middle Eastern flooring buyers who have numerously registered to visit the show as well as participate in our hosted buyer program. This is a region where will put an important focus in the future, to satisfy the continuously growing needs of both exhibitors and visitors.
Could you please explain more about the situation of the exhibition industry in the post-pandemic period in general?
China’s exhibition industry went on a downturn during the 3 years of the pandemic, similar to what happened everywhere in the world. The much-awaited lift of Covid restrictions in January, created a favorable environment for the rebound of business earlier than expected, however it happened so suddenly that it put the organizers in front of a need to act fast, without having much time to adjust and plan for the re-opening. The fast rebound of the economy after the opening of boarders is however having its positive impact on the recovery of the exhibition industry. Leading large-scale exhibitions have shown a much faster recovery than small-scale events, with record-breaking visitation in some cases. The increasing number of international visitors is also noticed since May onwards.
Could you please share with our readers some statistics and numbers from the last edition of the Domotex China floor Asia exhibition? and also your expectations for the 2023 edition?
We were lucky to open our show also in 2020, 2021, 2022, however, it was mainly participated by China-based professionals due to the closed borders, hence a reduced scale.
After the opening of China this January, the commercial ties with the world are established at fast speed. This was reflected very clearly at our show, which received an overwhelming number of requests for participation from both domestic and international companies. It has exceeded our targets and expectations by far. In just 20 days or so, the show will open its doors to over 1,600 companies and brands in an overall exhibiting space of 200,000 sqm.
Carpet sector has historically been a large segment of DOMOTEX asia /CHINAFLOOR and, in this edition, it will be no different. 2 dedicated halls totaling over 50,000 square meters gross will host over 500 companies that cover everything in the carpet production industry; from residential and commercial carpets, woven and machine-tufted carpets, hand-made carpets, wall-to-wall carpets, carpet tiles, mats, to carpet raw materials and carpet production technology. Brands like Freudenberg, Groz-Beckert, Truetzschler, Kolon, Matex, Ornek Machine, Owens Corning, Sellers, Staubli, Tuftco, Unitika, and Zimmer, to name a few will be exhibiting at the show, showing confidence in our platform and in the Chinese market.
This year edition of DOMOTEX asia will reconfirm again its leading position in the flooring industry of the Asia Pacific region. Our team is working tirelessly to guarantee this first post-pandemic edition is delivering to the audience a high value edition alongside high-quality services and hospitality. We are looking forward to welcoming the participants from the MENA region at our event and assisting them in exploring new business opportunities in the thriving Asian market.
Registration to the show is complimentary at HERE
