The 2008 edition of the Houseware Fair of Hong Kong was held between 21st April  and 24th April, 2008 at Hong Kong and the undersigned alongwith Shri Ghulam Mohamed Jaweed, Jr. Accountant was deputed to co-ordinate the participation of the members of the Council in the Fair.
                   
A total of 22 members of the Council participated in the Fair besides HEPC. The Fair was inaugurated on the 21st of April 2008. There was considerable buyer turnout on all the four days of the Fair and our members had a good number of enquiries and also had spot orders. The buyer turnout was better than last year and some of our members’ stalls were continuously occupied by buyers all the time. Our members have reported Rs. 13,01,02,500/ worth of enquiries and Rs. 3,83,04,500/ worth of spot orders at the Fair. The quantum of orders and enquiries is consistently the highest in this Fair compared to all the other Fairs participated by the Council in the last two years.

Our member exporters reported that the buyers in the Fair were from Spain, Canada, Japan, Serbia, Brazil, Panama, New Zealand, Denmark, Russia, South America, North America, South Africa, Chile, Ireland, Italy, Uruguay, Israel, Argentina, Malaysia, Dubai, Peru, Sweden, Hong Kong etc., What is significant in this is that buyers from Middle East and African countries also were attracted to this Fair which is not the case even in prestigious Fairs like Heimtextile, Frankfurt. The number of visitors to our member exporters stalls was reported to be 440, which is a significant number.

All the members have rated their preparation for the Fair as excellent, very good or good except one person as average. Sixteen members have reported that the buyer turnout was either very good or good. Six members reported that it was average. Likewise, the quality of the buyers was also found to be excellent, very good or good by all the members, except four who found it to be average. To the query whether they would participate in the Fair next year or not and if participating, whether they would do so through HEPC or otherwise, all of them have emphatically answered that they will participate next year also and that it will be through HEPC.

The feedback reports obtained from the participant members are enclosed.

Chennai                                                                                        (T.N.Subramanian)
29-04-08                                                                            Business Promotion Officer

Coordinated By:   Shri.G.Mathi Vathanan I.A.S  
                             Executive Director
                             The Handloom Export Promotion Council
                             #34, Cathedral Garden Road
                              Nungambakam
                              Chennai - 34 .     

Name of the Fair         : Global Home Textiles – 2008
Organizers                 : George Little Management LL, New York,USA
Venue                        : Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Las Vegas, USA
Duration                     : 3 days (6th to 8th May 2008)
Total No.of exhibitors   : 248
Number of participants
through HEPC              :7 (Listed below)
Other Concurrent fairs
in the same venue       : Global Home Décor &  The Gourmet Houseware show.

List of Participants 

Sl. No	Name of the participants
1	Rithika Exports, Karur
2	Diamond Exports, Panipat
3	Sethi International, Panipat
4	Trident Home Furnishings (p) ltd, Chennai
5	Nandini Fabrics, Karur
6	Texworld, N. Delhi
7	Silko Internationaal, Varanasi

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights of the fair as reported by the fair authorities

No of Exhibitors: 248
No of Visitors: 3000
Net Area: 40,800 sq.ft
Exhibiting Countries: Egypt, Pakistan, India, China, Turkey, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Israel, Thailand.

Countries of the buyers Visited : U.S.A, Canada,& South America based importers, Wholesalers and direct source retailers.

Countries of the buyers Visited    : U.S.A, Canada,& South America based importers, Wholesalers and direct source retailers.

About US market

With an area of approximately 93,73,000 sq.kilometer (including Alaska and Hawaii), U.S.A. is the fourth largest country in the world. As world’s leading economic power U.S.A. continues to occupy the most prominent place in the world trade and also is the leading trade partner of India.  As regards exports of handloom products are concerned, U.S.A. is still the leading market for India.  As per the available statistics, while the exports of handloom products have witnessed a marginally declining trend during 2001-02 at Rs. 613.46 crores as against the exports of Rs. 635.85 crores during 2000-01, there has been a considerable increase during 2002-03 at Rs. 860.60 crores.

The following tables depict the profile of import of Home textile products by USA & the leading country’s shares.

U.S.IMPORTS OF NON-APPAREL TEXTILES
                                                            $ in Billions

Year	Amount	% Change
2007	$22.5	3.9%
2006	$21.6	5.6%
2005	$20.5	10.5%
2004	$18.5	14.0%
2003	$16.3	6.9%

U.S.IMPORTS OF NON- APPAREL TEXTILES IN UNITS                                                                                                Units in Billions

S.No	Name of the Country	Jan2008	Jan2007	% Change
1	China	1.051	1.022	2.8%
2	Pakistan	0.172	0.215	-20%
3	India	0.161	0.163	-1.5%
4	Mexico	0.129	0.139	-6.7%
5	Canada	0.125	0.169	-26.2%

About the fair

The U.S. has a potentially huge and profitable- $25 billion home textiles market. Recently it is experienced that the number of visitors from the U.S. are declining sharply in the International fairs held outside USA.  The reason behind this is that buyers, retailers, importers, agents and wholesalers are still sourcing home textile items in US itself.  Hence it has become important for the members of HEPC to look for establishing new contacts with these US retailers, importers, agents and wholesalers from US, and also meeting existing buyers, strike business deals with high potential and high volume US buyers, and meeting the US department Stores, Specialty Chains, Brands and Importers under one roof. 

In earlier occasions, HEPC has targeted the US market by means of Buyer-Seller Meets and fairs.   In 2001 HEPC organized a Buyer Seller Meet in New York from  11th to 19th  September 2001 with 7 member exporters.  However, this Buyer-Seller Meet had not yielded the desired results. Again in March 2005, we organized a BSM at New York which again was not successful.  In 2006 HEPC has participated in the Atlanta Gift & Home Furnishing Show, held in Atlanta, USA from 13th to 17th , January' 2006.  However, to our dismay, the turnout of business visitors from home textiles segment was very much meager as this was a multi-product show and our member participants were not happy with the outcome of the fair. 

HEPC, has, therefore, been in the process of identifying a specialized fair for home textile products in U.S.A. and it has been ascertained that the  Global Home Textiles fair has its focus on home textiles.

Global Home Textiles is the fair that focuses on home textile segment.  Global Home Textiles has its reach a wide range of market segments in the U.S.  Global Home Textiles offers opportunities to establish high-potential and important relationships. The organizers George Little Management or GLM LLC as it is popularly known, the organiser of Global Home Textiles, is a 74 year old American company and claim to organize 86 trade fairs every year all over USA and Canada.

This second edition of the Global Home Textiles fair has 2 other concurrent fairs namely Global Home Décor & the Gourmet Housewares show.
           
The Gourmet housewares show is a much older fair & a very popular fair amongst the Importers.

At the end of the fair, I had a meeting with Ms.Penny Sikalis, the Vice president of the George Little Management(GLM) i.e fair authority and upon my request, the fair authority have made a special gesture by providing the list of names & contact details with names, phone numbers, email ids of the representatives of the leading importing (Listed  below) firms & chain stores of USA who have visited the fair during the 3 days. The list was provided only to our participants to enable them to take appointment for necessary follow-ups after the fair. This initiative of HEPC was highly appreciated by the participants.

S.No	Name of the Importing firms
1	Hsn
2	Target Corp
3	The Sundance Co.,Lic
4	Merrimack Home Textiles,Lic
5	A-1 Textiles
6	Century Home Fashions
7	Décor Group
8	Home Fashion USA
9	Hot Bargins Now
10	Invista
11	Softhome
12	The Luxury Robe
13	The Rug Market
14	All State Linen
15	American Textile Company
16	AZ Global Sourcing
17	JP Imports
18	Phoenix Textile

Participants feed back

Number of participants             :7

	Response (In no. of exporters)
	Average	Good	Very Good
Buyers Turnout	3	3	1
Quality of Buyers	2	3	2

No of visitors to our stall          : 88
Business                                 : Spot Orders               :INR 83,80,000
                                                Avg./Participants        :INR 11,97,000

                                                Enquiries                   :INR 5,21,30,000
                                                Avg./Participants        :INR 74,47,000

Many participants felt that this is a right kind of fair i.e wholesale nature ( retailing not permitted) for home textile products & is likely to gain popularity in the next 2, 3 years.

The fair was dominated by the Chinese & Pakistani participants by their number of participants & imposing pavilion construction. HEPC should take steps to increase the participants to atleast above 10 & construct Indian Pavilion to showcase the brand image of India Handwovens in the coming years.

           (G.Mathi Vathanan)
Executive Director

Domtex Middle East is the only dedicated Carpets and Floor Coverings fair in the Middle East and North Africa. HEPC has organized the participation of six member exporters in this fair held at Dubai from 25th to 27th May 2008. The fair was organized under MDA scheme of Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce.  

Name of the fair	: Domotex Middle East 2008,Dubai
Organised by	: Deutdche Messe, Dubai Branch
Coordinated by	: Shri.R.P.Rajalingam   Export Promotion Officer,HEPC
venue	: Sheikh Rashid and Sheikh Maktoum Hall, Dubai International Convention & Exhibition  Centre
Duration	: 3 days (25th – 27th May 2008)
Number of participants	: 6 (listed below)

List of Participants 

Sl.No	Name of the Firm
1	Winners Weaver, Karur
2	Vijayan Group, New Delhi
3	AASAN,Sitapur – 261 001 (UP)
4	Ameesh A Traders,Karur
5	AKS Rugs Co.,Panipat
6	Global Overseas,Bhadohi, U.P

 

 

 

 

 

HEPC has put up a central promotional stall in the event.

Highlights of the fair

Total No of Exhibitors	: 280
No of countries participated	: 36
Net Area	: 12,000 sq.mt
No. of participants from India	: 38
Countries of the Buyer’s Visited	: Saudi Arabia, Morrocco, Dubai, USA, Jordan, Iran & Kuwait.
No.of Visitors	: 6430

The fair organizers have arranged for a seminar during the fair “Designers Corner” sponsored by the American University in Dubai’s Department of Interior Design. Mr.Hans Bruinsma a Dubai based design consultant and many top executives of renowned organizations have presented their views and ideas.

The first two days of the exhibition showed that the demand for carpets and floor coverings has soared and the number of business transaction was high. The exhibition was visited by flooring professionals from 91 countries. Many exhibitors have already booked their places for Domotex Middle East 2009.

The fair authorities have scheduled this fair to coincide with five other Interior material international events in the same venue for the first time.

Participants Feed back:

HEPC participants have achieved the desired break through after two years in this fair.

Spot Orders Booked in INR	: 86,10,000.00
Enquiries Value in INR	: 1,19,70,000.00
No. of Buyers visited	: 76
country’s of buyers Visited	: Dubai, Morrocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, USA, Jordan, Iran, Kuwait

HEPC has made very elaborate arrangements for the participation with the help of Consulate General of India by arranging Hotel Accommodation at Corporate rate and coordinated with the participants for getting  Mobile SIM card, Internet Data card, Courier to carry exhibits besides VISA assistance. All the participants are very happy about the arrangements made by the Council. Four out of Six participants have decided at the end of fair to repeat their participation in next year through HEPC.

Deutche Messe Dubai Branch has announced the dates for fourth edition of Domotex Middle East from 12th to 14th May 2009 in Dubai. 

HEPC has organised the participation of the following 12 exporters in EVTEKS 2008, 14th Istanbul Home Textile Exhibition, held from 21-25 May 2008at CNR Expo, Istanbul, Turkey.

S.No	Company name and place
1	Sethi International, Panipat
2	Ramesh Impex Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
3	Garud Fabs (P) Ltd., Noida
4	Kittu Exports, Salem
5	Malabar Textiles, Kannur
6	Weave & Craft India International, Kannur
7	Sheil International, New Delhi
8	H.A. Hai & Brothers, Varanasi
9	Modern Silk Manufacturing Industrial Coop. Society ltd., Varanasi
10	Aastha Enterprises, Delhi
11	Silko International, Varnasi
12	Shikhar Merchandise Corporation, New Delhi

As per the feed-back received from our member participants, all were happy about their participation in this fair. As per the feedback given by them, 343 number of serious buyers visited our 12 stalls during the 5 day fair, and spot orders worth Rs.1.06 crores were booked, and enquires worth minimum Rs.15.60 crores were received, which may ultimately lead to concrete orders. On an average each participant had nearly 30 visitors, which is a significant number when compared to other home textile fairs. All of them wanted to repeat their participation and also to increase their stall size.
Shri T.N. Subramanian, Business Promotion Officer, of the Council had coordinated the participation.