Spirits high at Interzoo

 
Vitakraft’s natural concept met with great interest.
With sales of 15.6 bn euro (2000) in Europe, the pet sector is one branch of the economy that is continuing to expand. “From an international perspective, the pet product market is still showing sound growth, even if there has been a radical shift over the years towards group-type structures”, comments Hans-Jochen Büngener, chairman of the Interzoo fair committee.  This sustained upward trend was reflected at the world’s largest pet products fair. Greater numbers of international visitors than in previous years came to find out about the prevailing trends in the sector. The proportion of foreign exhibitors increased to 68 per cent, compared with 63 per cent in 2000; apart from Germany, the countries with most exhibitors were the USA with 102 (2000: 100), Italy with 88 (2000: 81) and China with 80 (2000: 53). Many companies were represented in the national pavilions of the USA, China, Canada, Great Britain, Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Iceland.
 
Hagen presented a wide range of interesting new products at the fair.
The international spread of visitors to the fair widened slightly: the percentage of visitors from abroad rose to 44 per cent. It was notable here that the number of visitors from western and central European countries receded slightly, while the number of visitors from the west of Southern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean rose by over a quarter. Visitors from the Baltic states doubled in number, and over 80 per cent more trade visitors came to Interzoo 2002 from the countries of eastern Europe than two years ago. The attendance figures for North America and Australia/Oceania remained steady, with a positive trend. While the number of visitors from Africa declined, the total from Central and South America increased by around 8 per cent. The biggest increase worldwide stemmed from Asia, however, with over 80 per cent.
 
A class act in the aquatics sector: the Tetra stand  impressed visitors.
Business was brisk on the first two days in particular, but quietened down somewhat more than expected over the fair weekend, although this did not succeed in dampening the good mood prevailing overall.    maj
In brief
Interzoo 2002
Exhibitors: 1,029 (2000: 1,015)
Exhibition area: 39,000 m²
Visitors: 22,718
Visitors from Germany: 12,791 (56 %)
Foreign visitors: 9,927 (44 %)
Next Interzoo: 13 –16 May 2004