The 27th Marble Izmir Fair was greater of a success than its organisers anticipated. The Fair, which lasted from March 30 to April 2, welcomed 78,096 people, of whom 8,590 were foreigners from 145 countries. The Fair brought together 1,015 exhibitors with visitors from all over the world and gave hope to the sector with the trade volume it produced.
More than 1,138 blocks of 650 different colours and textures of natural stone, from blocks to processed products, varying between $80 and $3,000 per ton, were sold to Turkish and foreign participants. Moreover, the final prices of the nearly 500 machines exhibited at the Fair ranged between 5,000 dollars and 500,000 dollars.
The machines on display included state-of-the-art equipment such as marble machinery, construction equipment and consumables, most of which were domestic and represented the needs of the whole process from the extraction of natural stone to the end-user.
All the exhibits were sold during the Fair, leaving participants and representatives happy because they either completed their order quota for 2022 or achieved million-dollar sales.
According to İZFAŞ General Manager, Canan Karaosmanoğlu Alıcı, the Marble Izmir Fair was successful. According to the organising committee, that was the desired result since, as Karaosmanoğlu Alıcı highlighted, “we promised our participants that we will raise the bar very high at the fair we will hold there this year.”
Other notable moments of the Fair include the “Buyer Delegation Program” that İZFAŞ organised together with the four influential exporters’ associations of the sector, İstanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (İMİB), Aegean Mineral Exporters’ Association (EMİB), Denizli Exporters’ Association (DENİB) and Western Mediterranean Exporters’ Association (BAİB). Nearly 500 visitors from 41 countries participated in the program.
During the event, original designs were awarded in the 4th Novel Natural Stone Design Competition awards, where young designers participated with original projects they created using natural stone. The three best projects selected among the products were entitled to receive the “Marble Most Novel Design Award” and a monetary award of 15 thousand TL. Teos by Taner Vural, Turn and Relax by Feyza Başak and Ant by Mehmet Tekin and Tahsin Demir won the Marble Most Novel Design Awards.
Furthermore, interviews were held with the participation of international natural stone experts about the position of natural stone in the world. Specifically, the interviews took place in two different sessions on “Human-made Materials against Natural Stone: External Applications” and “Different Uses of Marble in Design and Architecture”. Participants included experts from America, Iran, Qatar, and Poland.
Finally, the Fair’s contribution to the host city’s economy was noteworthy. Many sectors of the hospitality field were affected positively by the mobility the Fair caused in Izmir since most of the visitors had made their reservations at the hotels days in advance, and occupancy rates reached the maximum level in almost every hotel in İzmir. Additionally, restaurants and transportation saw their revenue increase due to the Fair’s visitors and participants. İZFAŞ aims to create a trade volume worth 100 million dollars for the İzmir economy this year with the fairs it organises.
Now, the marble sector, the Fair’s organising committee and the city all look forward to the 28th Marble İzmir, which will take place on April 26-29, 2023.
