Dubai – Big 5, the main fair in the building sector in the Middle East, aims to become “greener”, according to fair director Andy White. This means that it should show products with more sustainable characteristics. "Next year, this tendency should continue,” he said to ANBA on Thursday (24), the last day of the fair in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. "It is a theme that is attractive and that we want to develop,” he added.
White bases his thoughts on results obtained at the fair this year. DMG, the organizer of the fair, promoted a research with buyers from the region before the event and it showed that the main interests were in products that are novel in the Middle East, innovative and green.
Based on this information, over 100 free seminars were promoted to present products with these characteristics. One of the companies that showed its products at one of these events was the Brazilian Deca, of bathroom metals and ceramics.
"Around 75% of products shown [at the fair] may be considered more or less green,” said White. This means that they present at least one sustainable characteristic, either in the point of view of savings in energy, time, cost or water, etc.
Apart from being a global tendency, sustainable products may be used to comply with the new building sector rules in the Middle East. During this year’s edition of the event there was a congress on green building. “It was a great success,” said the executive. "All new elements that we introduced this year were well received,” he said.
That is where the tendency for investing in the formula came, but always presenting something new. In early 2012, DMG should again hear businessmen to know what they would like to see in the next edition.
Before that, however, the Big 5 will promote its second edition, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, currently the most heated building market in the Middle East. According to White, although the event is smaller than the original, the fair should practically double in size in comparison with last year, from 5,000 to 9,000 square metres, and in number of exhibitors, which should climb from 300 to between 500 and 600. "We sold almost everything [this week]", he stated. The fair in Dubai brought together 2,500 companies from 75 countries.
Movement
The forecast that the number of Saudi and Qatari visitors would rise at this edition of the Big 5, in Dubai, seems to have been confirmed in practice, at least in the perception of several exhibitors.
The organisation has yet to tally the number of visitors and their origins, but White believes the growth should reach 3% over 2010. "There are not many sector fairs that present such performance,” he pointed out.
According to him, exhibitors in general had positive evaluations of the fair, saying that it was better than last year’s edition and that the market itself has improved from one year to the next. "Perspectives for 2012 are good, and it seems that we are back on the right track,” he said. The market in the Middle East, especially in Dubai, suffered much after the 2008 financial crisis.
Apart from the Saudis and Qataris, White said that there was also significant participation of Iranian visitors. "They come here to see international products as they do not have this kind of fair there,” he said.
The executive added that the Platinum Club, meetings between exhibitors and representatives of projects of over US$ 100 million, brought together around 700 people. One of them was a breakfast sponsored by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex) and another was a luncheon sponsored by China.
*Translated by Mark Ament
