This is how our visit to the most important natural stone fair went
Marmomac, the benchmark trade fair for the stone industry, has returned to its on-site format and we could not miss this important international event. It brings together the world’s main natural stone producing countries to showcase their products, but also to find the latest innovations and advances in machinery and technology for stone.
Due to the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s edition has combined the on-site format (called MARMOMAC) with the virtual format (MARMOMAC PLUS), a digital portal for the exhibition and search of producers and business contacts.
As it has been usual for more than 50 years, the on-site edition was held at the Verona exhibition centre (Italy) and confirmed the high level of internationality of the event.
According to Focus Piedra magazine, 45% of the 756 exhibiting companies came from outside the European Union, totalling 329 companies from 39 different countries. In particular, 80 companies have travelled from Turkey, 15 from Brazil, 11 from Egypt and 6 from Iran. These figures are also supported by numerous international delegations of buyers, architects and importers of slabs and technologies from the United States, Canada, Russia and the Maghreb (Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia), crucial areas for the development of exclusive and luxury projects.
It has been a very satisfactory experience in terms of business opportunities, as we cannot forget that the building materials sector is being affected by a crisis in the logistics sector.
Changes in consumer behaviour and global logistics crisis
Consumer habits have changed, online shopping and the demand for cargo space have skyrocketed. This has led to a peak in demand for products manufactured in China which, together with the reduction of personnel at ports, has led to an increase in logistics prices.
Thus, the costs of shipping a product to Europe from Asia are 10 times higher than in May 2020. In the construction sector in particular, there has been an average cost increase of 22.2%, which has led to numerous cancellations or stoppages of construction work.
After our experience at the fair and discussions with our customers, we wondered whether we should not create synergies and act together to try to change the length of the supply chain, promoting more local manufacturing, within the EU, to help reverse this logistics crisis and improve the European economy.
Despite the economic effort required to attend this fair with our own stand, at Marcelino Group we continue to invest in this type of event in order to consolidate the company’s image abroad, analyse what the competition is doing, promote our products and innovations and consolidate relations with new and existing customers.
From our time at Marmomac, we would like to highlight the joy that could be seen in both exhibitors and visitors. We met again at an event, strengthening ties with partners, customers and suppliers in a warmer way than by sending emails or video calls. We enjoyed every visit to our stand and the impressions we received from our catalogue of works and products.
Thank you Marmomac and see you in 2022!