Presentation of the 47th edition of the event at the Milan Triennial on 5 June Final data for the fourth quarter 2011 confirm the trend: the Italian stone industry is expanding again on international markets. Despite the crisis, exports closed at 1.266 billion euros with an increase of 4% over 2010. An international focus, then, in the run-up to Marmomacc 2012, the leding event in the natural stone field that this year also inaugurates a B2B platform dedicated to meetings between exhibitors and architects from all over the world. Las Vegas, Doha and Riyadh are the stop-offs for Marmomacc in the World. Verona 8 May, 2012. Things got underway in Las Vegas and then travelled to Doha, in Qatar. The journey set off a long way away towards the 47th edition of Marmomacc (www.marmomacc.com), the landmark international exhibition for the natural stone, design and processing technology sector, scheduled at VeronaFiere Wednesday 26-Saturday 29 September 2012. The keyword, in short, is the internationalisation of business opportunities, especially for a field such as the Italian natural stone industry where exports, despite the economic crisis worldwide, grew in 2011 by more than 4% to posting a value of 1.266 billion euros. This is the direction taken by the initiatives organised abroad by VeronaFiere and Confindustria Marmomacchine with the Marmomacc in the World tour. January was the turn of StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas in Las Vegas. 30 April-3 May, on the other hand, saw the debut of the Qatar Tech Stone exhibition in Doha, a showcase for a geographical area boasting a scenario of important prospects, while November will see the second edition of Saudi Stone Tech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. VeronaFiere as always assisted and accompanied companies on consolidated and emerging international markets. This role is confirmed by the facts and figures for the last edition of Marmomacc: in 2011, 55% of more than 56.000 professional operators were international from 132 countries, with an increase of 7% over 2010; and 56% of the 1,500 exhibitors attending the VeronaFiere event also came from abroad. Quality marble world-wide speaks Italian, said Michael Reis in the February 2012 issue of Stone World Magazine, adding - as regards Made in Italy - “pride at all levels of production”. This is why the objective of the 47th edition is to achieve even further expansion in attendance by international delegations, especially BRIC countries that in 2011 even saw two-figure increases in operator numbers: Brazil +10%, Russia + 42%, India +6% and China +43%. With a view to enhancing meetings between exhibitors and international professional visitors, the initiative entirely dedicated to the world of architects is one of the innovations at Marmomacc 2012: the project envisages that a computerised matching system - “Architects-on-line” - will help Italian companies set up a series of appointments with a selected group of architects from 17 countries including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, India, Germany, Russia, Japan and Sweden. Over four days in September, the Verona Exhibition Centre will once again be the world capital for excellence in stone products characterising building and contract sectors, without forgetting professional training and design. And design is increasingly often the added value that makes all the difference. VeronaFiere is well aware of this and has worked for many years to develop applications in this sector involving natural stone. Not the least through full-scale cultural events such as “Mutable spirit”, the exhibition of projects exalting the ductility of marble, promoted by Marmomacc and hosted in April in the prestigious exhibition spaces of the Milan Triennial. And this location will also stage the Press Conference presenting the 47th edition on 5 June at 6.00 p.m.
