The united Europe is still growing - and the German building industry is showing clear signs of overcoming its weakness of the past years. Stone+tec 2007, the 15. International Trade Fair Natural Stone and Stoneprocessing Technology, takes place at the heart of this exciting market from 6-9 June 2007. 1,058 exhibitors and over 40,000 trade visitors from all over the world came to Nuremberg for Stone+tec 2005. This makes the exhibition one of the world's biggest industry events for the international natural stone community.

Stone+tec has developed over the decades from small beginnings to a permanent feature. Stone+tec registered its steepest growth at the start of the nineties, when German reunification and the opening of the markets in Eastern Europe led to an intra-German upswing in the building sector at the same time as Nuremberg literally moved into the centre of the new Europe - a continental market with over 450 million consumers. The number of exhibitors and the size of the display area almost doubled from 1991 to 1995 and the number of visitors rose by more than a third. Despite the noticeable decline of the German building industry after the boom years, Stone+tec maintained the importance acquired during this time and attracted over 1,000 exhibitors and 40,000 trade visitors.

The visitor structure of Stone+tec was even more international in 2005: over 30 per cent of the 40,282 visitors came to Nuremberg from 81 countries outside Germany. Particularly the attendance from some of the new EU member states in Central Eastern Europe showed distinct growth rates, led by Hungary (+48 %), the Czech Republic (+13 %) and Poland (+7 %). This tendency has been increasingly noticeable at the Nuremberg exhibition venue for around two years: The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 further simplified the possibilities of closer and simpler co-operation within the EU and also with the neighbouring regions. Large exhibition venues like Nuremberg, which is one of the top exhibition centres in Europe, traditionally assume special importance here as a forum for the exchange of products and services and for exchanging ideas.

Like the other European countries, the German natural stone market should certainly not be neglected. The stagnation in Germany in the past years at the same time as increased demand in regions like North America and Asia has made it easy to forget that Germany still ranks among the world's top ten natural stone consumer countries. According to development forecasts for the German industry in the first half of 2006, an upturn is emerging with impetus for almost all sectors of industry.

High target accuracy for success

Stone+tec offers a bridgehead to the Central European market for the classic natural stone nations Spain, Italy and Greece, but naturally also for the aspiring competitors from countries such as China, India, Turkey and Brazil. The exhibitors at Stone+tec 2005 were very satisfied with their results: More than half the exhibitors reported direct orders during the exhibition and eight out of ten companies expected follow-up business. Eight out of ten exhibitors were satisfied with the professional competence of the visitors on their stand and nine out of ten reached their most important target groups at Stone+tec 2005.

The fact that Stone+tec ideally combines supply and demand is shown by a survey of trade visitors: 96 per cent of the visitors were satisfied with the products on display at Stone+tec 2005 and as many as 98 per cent rated the information and contact possibilities on the exhibition stands as good. 77 per cent felt their visit to the exhibition would encourage them to use the products and services seen here in their own work in future. For more than half of all visitors, Stone+tec is the only natural stone exhibition they visit.

Products on display at Stone+tec include:

Natural stone

Technology

Gravestones and accessories

Apply now!

The hectic phase of preparations for Stone+tec 2007 has begun with the mailing of the application documents to potential exhibitors. Exhibitors booking by 20 September 2006 get the early booking discount.

-ENDS-

Contacts:

NürnbergMesse GmbH
Project Team Stone+tec 2007
Messezentrum
90471 Nürnberg
Germany

Roland Kast, Stefan Dittrich

Tel +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-81 08, -81 69
Fax +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-82 58