São Paulo – The International Tradeshow for Leather and Footwear (SICC), to be held from May 25th to 27th at the city of Gramado, northeast of Rio Grande do Sul state, will have importers from six Arab countries among the international visitors. Buyers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Sudan and Libya will come to the show, according to Roberta Pletsch, director of Merkator Feiras e Eventos, which organizes the exhibition.
Differently from other tradeshows, where the ones sponsoring the coming of importers are sectorial projects, in the case of SICC the organizer is the one that arranges and sponsors the coming of foreign buyers. In this year’s edition, 56 buyers will come from 26 countries from the Middle East, Africa, and South, Central and North America, besides Europe. They will have lodging, air tickets and transportation from Porto Alegre to Gramado sponsored by the organization.
Those who were once invited to previous editions of SICC automatically earn lodging in this year’s edition, which will be paid for by Merkator. Adding up these importers to those who will get the complete package, the number stands at more than 100 international importers expected to attend, according to Pletsch. The tradeshow is in its 24th edition and, according to its director, at first the foreign visitors came mainly from neighboring countries in South America.
The guest importers are suggested by the exhibitors themselves and, according to Pletsch, they ask for buyers from the Middle East and Africa a lot. “We noticed that the importers are buying a lot from them”, says the director, reminding that the countries all have warm weathers and that’s why they wear open shoes a lot. The SICC on May is focused on the launch of spring-summer collections. “The exhibitors say that it’s an expanding market, one which buys a lot and pays correctly”, says Pletsch.
The importers don’t take part in the business rounds. They only receive advising from the fair’s organization at the hotel arrival and after it they go visit the fair, enter the stands and do business with the companies in which they become interested. Merkator places a sticker in the stands of exhibitors that have joined the importers project, indicating that they have an interest in exporting and will bring to the fair their price list converted to dollars.
The last fair promoted by Merkator along these lines, Zero Grau, focusing on the autumn-winter collection, took place in November of last year, also in Gramado, and received 32 importers through the project. They purchased 346,000 pairs of shoes, according to Pletsch. The fair doesn’t release all of its financial transactions, but reports that the tradeshow does the equivalent of two month’s production of the companies in business.
Last year, 9,500 visitors came in three days of exhibition. For this year, 12,000 people are expected. There are 350 exhibitors in an area of 14,500 square meters, which is already completely sold. The fair takes place at the Serra Park Event Center.
Service
24º International Tradeshow for Leather and Footwear (SICC)
From May 25th to 27th, 2015
Serra Park – Rua Viação Férrea, 100 – Gramado – RS
Website: www.sicc.com.br
Phone: +55 (51) 3593-7889
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
