Gulf Print and Pack closes on a high note

Gulf Print attracted key international suppliers of printing machinery, printing and publishing software and ancillary equipment, whilst Gulf Pack was targeted at packaging machinery manufacturers who want to present their products to the dynamic Middle East market.

The 2009 dual event also included for the first time several new features including the Thought Leadership Conference - featuring industry experts from the global printing and packaging industries - and the Label Summit Middle East, reflecting the rapid development of label technology in line with the growth of the packaging market in the region.

"In line with Dubai's fundamentals as a regional hub of shipping, services, people, trade and capital, and in spite of the ongoing global economic slowdown, the number of exhibitors grew by eight per cent compared with the last show two years ago," Rothwell explained. "We had 230 firms exhibiting in Gulf Print and 285 at Gulf Pack. In addition, the 41 participating countries represented an 11% increase from the previous edition.

"As far as the visitors are concerned, first day visitor registrations went up by 10% compared with the first day of the last show, whilst overall visitor numbers increased by 2%," Rothwell added.

Many of the exhibitors were delighted by the overall interest in their stands. "The numbers of visitors are much higher than we had expected, especially in these tight economic times," said Ayman Aly, Product Manager at Canon. "We have had a good number of serious enquiries from potential customers from all over the region."

Abdul Ghani, a Technical Engineer with MagnaJet, who supply large format (3.2 metre) inkjet printers, was equally enthusiastic. "The response has been magnificent," he said, "Especially from the Saudi delegations. Of course, the fact that we can sell this printer for roughly a third the price of similar machines, helps us quite a bit."

Chris Lynch of Xerox hardly had a minute to himself, "Though I'm not complaining for one minute," he added hastily. "We had an excellent amount of interest from visitors from all over the Gulf and Day 2 was even busier than Day 1, which is traditionally the busiest day of the show. We used this exhibition to launch three new digital presses and the interest was phenomenal."

Exhibitors on the packaging side of the exhibition were equally impressed by the quality of those visiting their stands. "An excellent show producing some good business leads" is how one exhibitor - Abdul Rahman Shah, Business Development Manager of Schütz, which produces bulk containers - described the show, whilst Christian Wendey, Regional Business Manager for Asia Pulp and Paper, agreed with this view, citing a good number of potential customers on their stand leading to the prospect of good business. "This is by far the best exhibition we have been to so far," he said.

Meanwhile, Peter Vermaak, Director of Marefa International, which makes bottle filling equipment, said that there had been a noticeable improvement since the previous edition of the show. "What we have noticed is a better level of enquiries with more decision makers visiting our stand. Some people attend exhibitions to wander and browse around, but here we have had a good quality of enquiries from all over the Gulf, from Iraq and Iran and from Africa - even as far west as Nigeria," he added.

The level of interest was just as high in some of the smaller companies, rather than just the multi-nationals. Samer Tarabichi of Tarabichi Printing & Packaging, based in Damascus, said he had received good leads from a number of Middle Eastern and North African countries - from as far afield as Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan and Yemen. "The quality of these leads was high and we are now in discussion with a number of new potential clients," he said.

Reinhard Steindreischer, MD of CC Concept Marketing thought that the organisation of the show in particular had been very good. "The whole exhibition looks attractive and the quality of the people visiting has been noticeably high," he said. "Our stand has attracted a number of good potential customers who are thinking of investing in our products."

Amir Hossein Hajilo, Managing Director of Sepidsal General Trading, which supplies the printing trade with highly efficient solvent recovery plants, was ecstatic about the show. "Our systems sell for a minimum of €2m and sometimes the actual sales process can take up to a year. To be honest we weren't too sure before we came here whether it would be worth our while attending. But in the event, it has exceeded our wildest expectations."

"When I travel to the various countries around the Middle East I cannot guarantee that I will get to see the real decision makers. But here at this exhibition, the quality of visitors has been extremely high. We have met with top managers, decision makers and technical managers, and these people have come from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE. So I have been very happy with the visitor response here - in fact it's been so good I don't want this exhibition to stop. I just don't want to go home," Hajilo added.

With the success of this year's show, Rothwell says that Fairs & Exhibitions is determined to make the succeeding edition of the show, which will be held in Dubai on the 4th up to 7th of April 2011, even better.

"We have received valuable feedback, both from our exhibitors and from many of the visitors to the event and will in the next few weeks be analysing their responses and planning on making the next edition even more memorable, for exhibitors and visitors alike," Rothwell adds