Expobois in Paris

The 28th edition of Expobois – the biennial exhibition dedicated to woodworking technologies and furniture supplies organized by Exposium with the support of the French association Symop and Eumabois– was held in Paris last 12-15 March.
With its 400 exhibitors, Expobois recorded an 11 percent increase as compared to the previous edition – almost like the same percentage in 2004 as compared to 2002 edition. The event featured 45 percent of foreign exhibitors, with the massive attendance of Italy (60), followed by Germany (53) and Spain (11).Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland participated with almost ten companies. The exhibition covered a net surface of almost 20 thousand square meters, in halls 3 and 4 of Paris-Nord Villepinte exhibition centre.
The companies participated directly to the exhibition, as it usually happens for this type of event, in particular as to machinery.
Also during this edition – for the second time – accessories and components for wood product finishing were gathered in a dedicated area, located in the center of hall 4 and featuring almost twenty companies.
The highest attendance level and the most interesting figures from a business point of view were recorded during the second and the third days of the exhibition.
According to the opinion expressed by the exhibitors after meeting visitors, market supply – also as to small-sized handicraft companies – is oriented towards NC working centers allowing to carry out more operations with flexibility and quick machining results. Results that cannot be easily reached with standard machines, and, for this reason, the request for traditional machines seems to be slightly decreasing.
 
The French market represents the fourth by importance for the Italian industry, after Spain, the United States and Germany.
From January to December 2007 – according to the figures recently released by Istat, the Italian Statistics Institute – Italian technology export increased by 6.4 percent over the same period of the previous year, reaching a total of 102,600 million Euros.