Tyrexpo Africa to Add Industry Conference to 2010 Show

Plans for a tyre industry conference held as part of the next staging of Tyrexpo Africa in Johannesburg in March 2010, have been announced by event organisers ECI International. ECI wants to extend the scope and pulling power of the exhibition and has been encouraged to add a conference session by exhibitors and partners in South Africa. The one day conference will focus on key issues in tyre and rubber manufacturing, tyre retailing, developments in technology and the impact of new legislation. Keynote speakers will be drawn from the South African industry, together with major international players. The third staging of Tyrexpo Africa will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg on 4, 5 and 6 March 2010.

“Tyrexpo Africa has established itself as an important trading event over the past five years and now we are keen to broaden its appeal to participants by staging a top quality industry conference,” explained ECI sales director Rowena Suthers. “At the same time, we do not want to dilute the prime focus on doing business in the exhibition hall, but by striking the right balance we are confident the conference can add to everyone’s experience and value from being at the exhibition,” she added.

Early response from exhibitors to Tyrexpo Africa has been described as “very positive” by ECI, with 40 per cent of floor space at the Sandton Convention Centre already taken by a combination of African and international tyre, accessories and equipment companies.

Pieter Kruger of Cape Town based Tubestone said, “We support Tyrexpo Africa as it is the only major tyre show for Africa. Our focus is to advertise our products from various suppliers to customers all over Africa. Our aim is to supply into Africa and the show actually assist us with this by bringing in potential customers. The show is run very professionally and because of this it is growing in size and influence. Tubestone will once again focus as a one stop shop solution for the smaller customers into Africa.”

Another South African exhibitor, Charl de Villiers of Tyrecor, commented: “We’ve certainly seen great benefit from our involvement in the exhibition, both in South Africa and more widely in other African markets. It gives us an excellent platform to promote our major tyre brands, including Infinity and Alliance, and we’re looking forward to building on that at the next show in March 2010.”

In addition to Tubestone and Tyrecor, companies already committed to the show include BKT, Chemvulc, Crowntyre, Enercell, L-Guard, Nitralife, Rubberking, SA Tyre Distributors, Shandong Wanda Boto, Shandong Fenglun, Stamford Tyres, Star Tyre Group, Treadsdirect and Tandem Tyres. A full exhibitor list can be accessed at the ECI Tyrexpo Africa website.