The fourth international trade fair for technical textiles, nonwovens and protective clothing took place in Moscow in the IEC Crocus Expo on May 27 - 29 2008.

2,139 professional visitors attended the trade fair where high-quality products were presented by 106 exhibitors from Austria, Belgium, Belorussia, Great Britain, Germany, India, Italy, China, Czech Republic, France, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Switzerland and South Korea.

The extensive program of the event, exhibitors demonstrating advanced technology products, the constant flow of professionals who came from various regions of Russia and the CIS countries to attend the fair - all these factors prove that technical textiles and nonwovens are in demand in the Russian and CIS markets. Moscow is an important gateway to these markets. Especially now that the Russian mar-ket is very attractive for foreign manufacturers due to the general economic growth, booming building, governmental programs for improvement of road construction, investments into aircraft construction and other industries.

Needs of the rapidly developing market are obvious

"This edition of Techtextil Russia has turned out to be the best one ever. The exhibitors are very satisfied with the quality of the visitors. They have promising business leads as well as partly directly signed contracts. The Techtextil Russia Symposium was packed meeting the demand and interest in information about trends in markets, new materials, technologies and products. The results of the whole event bring us a big step forward in this growing market." - said Michael Jaenecke, Brand Manager Techtextil.

"Techtextil Russia is a trade fair that meets the high demands of a professionally organized event, that copes with commercial and scientific aspects at the same time. The fair statistics prove that we are going the right way and that Techtextil Russia is extremely interesting for the industry professionals. We are going to continue development of the conference part of the trade fair. We have already received some feedback on the Symposium and we can say that it was very successful," said Eugen Alles, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt RUS.

The fringe program of Techtextil Russia 2008 was divided into two parts. The symposium and the presentation parts of the program were platforms for discussion of the most important and up-to-date problems of the industry. The general topic of Techtextil Russia Symposium was called "Technical textiles: world experience and Russian prospects"; the second day had a practical bias for professionals of the industry to share experience. A separate part of the program was devoted to glass-fibres.

The program was of great interest for visitors. The conference hall was fully occupied and when the official part was over, the participants stayed in to continue discussions.

Opinion of exhibitors and visitors of the trade fair

Agnès Elisabelar, ESPACE TEXTILE (France) (exhibitor) :

"This was our first participation together with our members at Techtextil Russia, and we are satisfied. The show was absolutely well organized: no problem at the move-in, the booths were ready and every piece of ordered furniture properly delivered on time.

The visitors who came were obviously motivated and our exhibitors have underlined their high quality profile. The Russian market is definitely the right market to develop, with a real and strong potential. Our exhibitors will come back in 2010 and we plan to reinforce the participation of technical textiles producers from Rhône-Alpes."

Coats (Russia, Moscow region), A. Kim, General Director (exhibitor):

"Last year we attended Techtextil Russia as visitors, this year we made a decision to exhibit: if our competitors are here, why should we drop behind? The trade fair is visited by professionals only; there are no casual people here. We managed to establish business contacts that hopefully will be prospective. The fair organization is of a very high quality. Most probably we will exhibit again in 2010".

Lenzing Fibers (Austria), Mr. Juergen Eizinger, Sales Manager, Busi-ness Unit Nonwoven Fibers (exhibitor):

"Techtextil Russia is a good chance to see our existing customers and to meet new customers. We are satisfied. It's a good opportunity for us to show our products and to show what we are doing. Some of our visitors are interested in our products and some come to see what's going on in the market. With the people we've met here we could make good business in the future. I think we will attend Techtextil Russia next year. For us Russia is a really good market, we started good business here. We have here more and more customers and we take this chance to meet all of them in one place".

Kynol Europa Import-Export GmbH (Germany), Rawshan Tursume-tov, Product manager (exhibitor):

"This is our first exhibiting at Techtextil Russia; moreover, it's our first exhibiting at a specialized trade fair of this kind in Russia. I should say that the trade fair surpassed our expectations. We had very many visitors. The most important thing for us is that there are only industry professionals among visitors, that is people who understand us. We have a very positive impression of the trade fair, we wish this project further growth and development and we are going to be here again for its next edition".

DYNAT (Germany), Managing Director Thomas Tieleboerger their Russian representative office «YKK» (Russia, Moscow), K.Shirobokov, depute general director (exhibitor):

"We are in participating in Techtextil Russia for the second time. Those customers who come here are really interesting for us. For us it's important to get impression here about the Russian customers and the Russian market. Safety market and chemical protection are especially interesting for us. There are a lot of segments in industry which may require our products and we wish the industry to grow faster".

Fedustria (Federation of the textile, wood and furniture industries), Belgium. Caroline Sonneville, Export Promoter Technical Textiles. (exhibitor):

"It's the second time we have Belgium pavilion on Techtextil Russia. Comparing with the last year, the Fair is much better, we have much more visitors. The companies are very satisfied. They all will come to the next Techtextil Russia in 2010. Congratulations to all Team and the Organizers!"

Jarden applied materials (UK), Roger Evans, Managing Director (ex-hibitor):

"We are quite pleased with the Fair. And the visitors who come here speak in our special technical language. The level of visitors' professionalism is good. We are exhibiting in Frankfurt and China and probably will be back to Techtextil Russia in 2010".

JSC «The Paris Commune Factory» (Russia, Vladimir region), V.Gorshkova, depute marketing director (visitor):

"We receive invitations from Messe Frankfurt regularly. We usually participate in the Federal Fair and this year we came to Techtextil Russia for the first time to compare products presented and to get an idea of new products. The quality of exhibits is even higher that we expected. The trade fair surpassed all our expectations".

LLC "Tirit", laboratory equipment (Russia, Moscow), A.Astashkin, manager (visitor):

"We came to Crocus Expo to attend the Industrial Forum and decided to visit Techtextil Russia as well. We found prospective contacts. Even on the last day the fair is well attended, which makes a very positive impression".

Source: www.messefrankfurt.ru