Braving the heat in Bucharest

In June, the Romanian capital Bucharest spent several weeks sweltering in a heat wave that saw daily temperatures rise to 40° C. Undaunted by this, around 10 000 visitors attended the second edition of the consumer fair Pet-Expo in the south of the city. This figure was in line with the expectations and announcements of the fair organiser Ilpan. Nearly all the exhibitors were from Romania and included leading wholesalers such as Pet Product (JBL, Intersand among others), Torox (Biomill, Cotecnica etc.) and Exotic-K (Trixie, Dajana-Pet and others). Visitors to the show also included numerous representatives of international pet product manufacturers, who took advantage of the show to take a look at the Romanian pet supplies market. Those present in this capacity included Rudolphe Ruelle of JBL (Germany), Oxana Munari of Flexi (Germany), Ileana Zambelli of Imac (Italy), Erik Garde of Eldorado (Denmark) and Anne Bourinet of Zolux (France). Individual strengths Several small companies used the pet supplies fair to present their goods and services to the public:
Laurentiu Boeriu and Alexandra Banciu began importing and distributing the premium British brand Organipets in May (www.organipets.ro). They say that great potential exists in Romania for organic food in particular.
Dr. Horia Ciutac and his company Schmidt-Essen specialise in vitamin preparations, food supplements and care products. The demand for such products in the pet trade in Romania is increasing rapidly at present, says Dr. Horia Ciutac.
City-Pets from Bulgaria came to Bucharest to present its cat litter “Universal Bedding”, made of cellulose fibres, for rodents, ferrets, birds, reptiles, cats and horses.
Potential exists When asked by PET worldwide, the fair organiser and coordinator Ilie Pana said that next year’s Pet-Expo will probably take place in April. Both trade visitors from Romania and abroad and exhibitors told PET worldwide, however, that the Romanian pet supplies market in general and the fair in particular have great potential. Download: Braving the heat in Bucharest (PDF file)