The sector started to wait for the 30th Marble Izmir Fair

The natural stone sector eagerly awaits the 30th Marble Izmir Fair. Marble Izmir – International Natural Stone and Technologies Fair, which is the lifeblood of Turkey’s natural stone exports, welcomed industry representatives and visitors from all around the world at fuarizmir from April 17th to 20th.

Contributing significantly to the natural stone exports, which constitute approximately $6 billion of mineral exports, Marble Izmir pleased both participants, the sector, and the tradesmen of Izmir with its business volume. Aside from the business deals made, the increased hotel occupancy, the rising business volume in restaurants, and the density in the city’s shopping malls and tourist spots brought satisfaction.

Hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and organized by IZFAS at fuarizmir with over 150,000 square meters of indoor and outdoor exhibition space and 1,014 participants, Marble Izmir – International Natural Stone and Technologies Fair hosted a total of 68,975 visitors.

Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay emphasized the importance of branding and marketing for the natural stone sector, stating, “We will focus on regional development during this period. For this, we will collaborate with our neighboring provinces and all institutions and organizations in Turkey. Izmir is historically a city of commerce and fairs. We will make significant efforts to enhance this aspect.”

Marble Izmir, which Dr. Cemil Tugay inaugurated, was visited by 68,975 people, including 8,277 foreigners from 125 countries and 60,698 locals from 76 cities. The natural stone sector, which increased its exports in the first three months of this year and achieved significant sales and agreements at the fair, is now looking forward to the 30th Marble Izmir to be held on April 9-12, 2025.

Canan Karaosmanoğlu Alıcı, the General Manager of IZFAS, expressed that Marble Izmir Fair, which is the gateway of the Turkish natural stone sector to the world, brought hope for the new year with its trade volume. She stated, “We organized three different procurement delegation programs with the support of the Ministry of Trade for exports, in collaboration with the Aegean Mineral Exporters’ Association, Istanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters’ Association, and West Mediterranean Exporters’ Association. Within the scope of these programs, participant companies conducted hundreds of business meetings with 130 companies from 19 target countries.

Besides the countries such as China, the USA, India, and Saudi Arabia, which are the top destinations for our exports, professional visitors from many countries, from South Korea to Australia and from Brazil to the United Kingdom, attended the fair.

We also organized B2B meeting programs during the fair to enable participant companies to meet with customers quickly and effectively. Despite the political and economic events worldwide, seeing new collaborations, sales, and agreements made us happy.”

Canan Karaosmanoğlu Alıcı also highlighted that Marble Izmir has become a significant force contributing to Turkey’s economy, going beyond being a trade event. She said, “The fair provided a significant trade volume to the sector throughout the four days.

The Turkish natural stone sector, which had $77 million in exports in the first year of our fair, has now reached an export potential of $2 billion. This year’s fair also made a significant contribution to our city.

The arrival of nearly 70,000 visitors to Izmir, the increase in hotel occupancy rates, and the increased business for taxi drivers, restaurateurs, and tradesmen demonstrate how important Marble Izmir Fair is for the city’s economy. I would like to thank all the officials and participants who supported us by visiting our fair.

I believe that by working together, we will further advance the natural stone sector. Marble Izmir will continue to be an active player in increasing trade volume and exports for both the sector and the city’s economy in its 30th year.”

The sector started to wait for the 30th Marble Izmir Fair

Ibrahim Alimoğlu, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Aegean Mineral Exporters’ Association, stated, “Marble Izmir Fair, which has contributed greatly to the rapid rise of the Turkish natural stone sector in the world league, fell short of our sector’s expectations in 2024 despite the global economic slowdown and high inflationary environment in the Turkish economy. As the Aegean Mineral Exporters’ Association, we aim to increase Turkey’s natural stone exports by 10% in 2024, reaching $2.13 billion from $1.936 billion, thanks to the business meetings conducted with 40 importing companies from 17 countries we brought to the fair and the hundreds of bilateral business meetings our 44 exporting companies held.

Our goal as the leading organization in natural stone exports in Turkey is to achieve a 15% increase in exports in 2024, compensate for our losses in 2023, and bring $775 million in foreign currency to our country.”

Alimoğlu continued, “By organizing Marble Izmir Fair for 29 years and laying the groundwork for the Marble Festival phenomenon in our sector, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality deserves special thanks. Although it has been only a few days since Dr. Cemil Tugay took office as the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, he embraced our sector and hosted us wonderfully. I would like to thank Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay, and IZFAŞ General Manager Canan Karaosmanoğlu Alıcı and her team at IZFAŞ, who worked tirelessly day and night to make Marble Izmir Fair one of the world’s two largest fairs in the sector, on behalf of our natural stone sector.”

Wishing success to the sector

Hanifi Şimşek, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the All Marble, Natural Stone, and Machinery Manufacturers Association (TÜMMER), said, “Our Marble Izmir Fair opened its doors to the world for the 29th time between April 17th and 20th, 2024. I must say that the organization was extremely successful. It was an honor for our stands to be visited by our Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, our former Minister of Trade, our governors, deputies, mayors, bureaucrats, and other officials.

It was also a successful fair in terms of procurement delegations. As always, IZFAS’s team intervened in the problems instantly and professionally. The display of more directional products this year increased demand.

Before the end of 2024, we should have a meeting with the presidents of IZFAS, TÜMMER, export associations, and member associations to determine the roadmap for procurement delegations, plan for next year, and evaluate fair operations.

We should also plan the new period together with joint wisdom through consultation boards, taking into account the demands of our participants. We have expressed to Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay the need for an additional 20,000 square meters of space for the firms left outside, and I believe that this problem will be solved starting from next year. I thank everyone who contributed to our Marble Izmir Fair. After a successful fair, I wish all our sector, from natural stone to machinery, successful sales and a prosperous period.” https://www.sektornews.com/sektor-30-marble-izmir-fuarini-beklemeye-basladi/