With 2,000 exhibitors from 56 countries and upwards of 150,000 visitors from 146 nations, the Xiamen Stone Fair has established itself as one of the leading international stone exhibitions. Since its inception 18 years ago, the fairgrounds has drastically grown in size – currently encompassing approximately 1.9 million square feet – and each year the show’s traffic continually increases. The 2018 edition of the Xiamen Stone Fair was held from March 6th to 9th at the Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center (XICEC) in Xiamen, China, and included a total of 22.3% of new exhibiting companies.

Of the attendees, 29,513 were from overseas, according to show management at Xiamen Jinhongxin Exhibition Co., Ltd. Those walking the expansive exhibition halls discovered national pavilions from countries including Turkey, Italy, Brazil, India, Iran, Portugal, Egypt, Spain, France and Greece. There were also exhibitors from the U.S., Canada, Russia, Poland, Germany, Cambodia, Angola, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Nigeria.

To make it easier to navigate the massive show, the exhibition space was divided into four zones: Domestic Stone, Machinery & Tools, International and Outdoors. According to show management, stone companies accounted for 71.8% of the exhibitors, machinery and tool manufacturers represented 23.4%, and other services and entities were the remaining 4.8%.

“The results of this year’s fair matched our expectations,” said Christabel Zhang of Xiamen Jinhongxin Exhibition Co., Ltd. “We would like to express our gratitude to all the attendees and our partners.”

New show highlights

The latest edition of the Xiamen Stone Fair also turned the “Launch out @ XSF” presentation session into a four-day event with a special 48,000-square-foot exhibiting area in Hall C3b. It covered the entire stone industry chain with superior resources, concentrated on unveiling the latest products and technology, and speculated on the industry’s developing direction. Zhang shared her excitement about the program’s turnout. “A total of 48 sessions, brought by speakers from around the world during the four days, was well received, and we had more audience members compared to the 2017 edition,” she said.

Moreover, a new addition to the Xiamen Stone Fair was an exhibition of innovative stone ideas entitled “Stone Infinite — Product Design Show.” Organized by Xiamen Jinhongxin Exhibition Co., Ltd in cooperation with Stone-Ideas.com, the exhibit made the Xiamen Stone Fair the hub for new marketable ideas using natural stone, according to Zhang.

“It presented an opportunity for leading designers and companies to illustrate groundbreaking ideas and products made with natural stone,” she said. “Nine design studios and stone companies from China, Greece, Italy, Norway, Turkey and the U.S. attended as the first exhibitors to present innovative ideas for the usage of stone. Some of the pieces were furniture, others were decorative objects and one was even a fashionable jacket made of marble powder. The guideline was to show marketable products.”

Zhang continued to explain that another focus of Stone Infinite was its international orientation. “Products that were shown came from all over the world,” she said. “Once more, Xiamen Stone Fair underlined its claim to be the floor for the international exchange of stone ideas.”

The next addition of the Xiamen Stone Fair is scheduled from March 6 to 9, 2019, and show management continues to plan ways for the exhibition to evolve. “In 2018, the infrastructures of Xiamen will be further improved,” said Zhang. “We will expand the venue again. The new Hall B8 and B9 will be around 215,000 square feet. A new underground parking lot for 3,000 parking spaces will also be built. We may be able to use the new exhibition halls in 2020.”