Intermat bullish

The organisers of the upcoming 242 INTERMAT 2012 exhibition are bullish for the success of the event. The show will run from 16-21 April 2012 and is expected to draw up to 200,000 visitors and 1,500 exhibitors, 500 of which comes from outside France and from over 50 countries. The outside space for the exhibition has already sold out with 90% of the space in the covered area also having been booked. Changes for the show for 2012 include two working demonstration areas instead of just one in previous years. One of the demonstration areas will be for lifting and handling machines while the other will be given over to construction equipment and the two together will cover an area of 30,000m2. The 242 INTERMAT show will now cover a total area of 375,000m2. The event will feature its 5th Innovation Awards scheme, with four categories: materials; components, equipment and tooling; services; operation and this will be judged by an international team of experts. North Africa and the Middle East will be focus areas for the event. The exhibition comes at a time when the construction sector is improving. The North American market for equipment started to improve again in 2010, growing 21% in terms of machine sales according to estimates by Manfredi & Associates and with a 14% growth rate predicted for 2011. However the fast growing economies of Brazil, Russia, China and India (BRIC) are predicted to continue their expansion.