Tyrexpo Africa draws satisfied response, schedules 2014

The organisers of Tyrexpo Africa have been pleased by the response to this year’s show at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. Over 140 delegates from more than 70 countries exhibited at the show, while total attendees for the three-day show numbered 2,652. ECI International sales director, Rowena Suthers stated that the company was “very happy with the overall exhibitor response”. ECI has confirmed that Tyrexpo Africa 2014 will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre on 4, 5, 6 March 2014.

“Once again exhibitors were keen to emphasise the quality of the trade visitors attracted to the exhibition and we were pleased to see the show continue to cement itself as a must-visit event for tyre professionals with an interest in Southern Africa.” ECI believes the show’s performance shows the necessity for a quality, niche-market tyre and workshop equipment trade event in the region.

Typical of the comments from satisfied exhibitors was that of Elize Labuschagne from Leaderquip, who said: “We were very busy during the show. We have an established customer base in South Africa and we found that people came specifically to see us. We also found the opportunity to use a hand held scanner to monitor visitors to the stand to be especially useful”.

“The exhibition, as ever, is good,” added Mr Vicky Patel, deputy manager of export marketing for Indian tyre manufacturer BKT. “We increased our booth size this year and as a result have seen an increased number of visitors from the local market.”

Claudia Kurz from German casing dealer Reifenhandel Kurz commented: “This is the first time we have exhibited at the show and it has been very successful. We were looking for contacts from China, Japan and India but people have come from all over the world.”

This was echoed by Jörg Schäuble from shearography equipment manufacturer SDS-Systemtechnik: “We have received plenty of visitors from overseas but we have also found local retreaders to be interested in our equipment. From that point of view our main expectations of the show have been met.”

ECI said it was particularly pleased with the increased support from the majority of leading automotive equipment suppliers and a notable increase in interest in tyre recycling, thanks to the presence of REDISA at the show and the topicality of that particular subject.

Chris Crozier from REDISA stated:  “There has been a lot of interest in the REDISA plan and it has been great to be able explain it to the market. We have seen a good cross section of interested parties including tyre dealers, tyre importers, transport operators and recyclers. It has definitely been worth being here.”

Most Innovative stand design awards at the show went to Rema Tip Top (Platinum), Stamford Tyres (Gold) and TVS Srichakra Ltd (Silver).