The annual demand for textiles and textile products in the Middle East region is in excess of $11.4 billion. This is estimated to be the highest per capita demand in the world, with Dubai the trading heart of the region. Within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone there are some 31,000 establishments involved in textile trading and allied activities, employing in excess of 100,000 people.
IIR Exhibitions and Conferences, organizers of the biannual Motexha fashion and textiles trade fair, the Middle East's forum for the garment industry, has announced it is to launch a hosted buyer program to further boost the show's regional and international profile.
"In all around 30 top-ranking buyers will be hosted," explained Sally Hodgkinson, project director for Motexha. "Half will come from within the Middle East and the remainder from outside the region. The aim is to ensure exhibitors meet key buyers who are interested in sourcing from the region and Motexha."
The hosted buyer program will be launched to take effect for Motexha Spring 2003, which will be held at the Dubai International Exhibition Center (DIEC), in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from April 6-8.
To date, national groups from Turkey, Germany, Italy and the UK have confirmed they will mount pavilions at Spring Motexha 2003. News of the Motexha hosted buyer program comes as an independent post show report on Motexha Autumn 2002, revealed some 6,122 visitors from 43 countries attended the show, which was held at the DIEC from September 23-26 this year.
The report, by Media Matters of the UAE, also showed that, on average, trade visitors spent 18 hours doing business at the show. Though the bulk of visitors, some 56.72 percent came from within the UAE, there was a substantial turnout from within the Arabian Gulf and overseas.
"Just over 15 percent of visitors were from Saudi Arabia and over eight percent from Kuwait," said Hodgkinson. "Other visitor generation countries included China, India, Iran, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey and Syria."
Almost all registered visitors—some 97 percent—said they were directly involved in buying at the show. More than four-fifths claimed to be prime decision-makers. While 68 percent of visitors said they were at the show to do business with an existing supplier, 59 percent also anticipated sourcing new suppliers. Almost a third of visitors requested quotations at the show, 26 percent confirmed orders and eight percent requested follow-up sales visitors.
The area which most interested visitors was women's wear (27.56 percent) with men's wear coming in a close second at 21.79 percent. These were followed by leather goods (18.34 percent), footwear (18.06 percent), textiles and fabrics (16.02 percent), accessories (14.58 percent), baby clothing (11.45 percent) and children's clothing (10.61 percent). — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
