VERONA, ITALY -- Veronafiere is seeking to strengthen its presence in the natural stone sector in Brazil. The Vitória Stone Fair, the leading exhibition in Latin America for marble and granite organized since 2013 by the Verona trade fair group through its subsidiary Milanez&Milaneze, will be re-named Marmomac Brazil from 2025 and move to São Paulo, capital of the state of the same name. This rebranding and strategic repositioning has two objectives: continue to expand the Vitória Stone Fair and consolidate its leading role in the natural stone industry in Central and South America, and to also look into new business opportunities in North America, the leading importer of ornamental stone from Brazil.
The rebranding was announced during the inauguration of the 21st Vitória Stone Fair. The event, scheduled January 30 to February 2, 2024 in Vitória, Espírito Santo State, Brazil attracted more than 250 exhibitors, as well as buyers from 50 countries -- generating more than 50 million euros in turnover over the four days of b2b meetings.
"Veronafiere is a reality with 125 years of operations behind it and continuous growth abroad,” said Matteo Gelmetti, vice president of Veronafiere. “Not only with the Vitoria Stone Fair, but our other events -- the Cachoeiro Stone Fair, Mec Show and Wine South America -- are also recording excellent results in Brazil. This new initiative seeks to transform the trade fair in Vitória into an even more mature, international and appealing event. This involves full-scale evolution of the format in order to stimulate the development of the natural stone sector and create new business opportunities, for Brazilian and Italian companies alike."
The new name of the event, Marmomac Brazil, was chosen to highlight the strong international identity of the trade fair and its increasingly close connections with Marmomac, the landmark in the world for natural stone and processing technologies thanks to 57 editions already held in Verona. Marmomac 2023 attracted more than 1,500 exhibitors from 54 countries and more than 51,000 buyers, of whom 66% international from 138 countries.
"We are convinced that this is an important step for the future of the Vitoria Stone Fair," added Maurizio Danese, managing director of Veronafiere. “Marmomac is an internationally recognized brand and represents excellence in the natural stone sector. Combining this brand with our trade fair event in Brazil will enable us to create new synergies between the two events, in terms of both cross-marketing and incoming attendees, by utlizing Marmomac's large global community."
The Brazilian natural stone industry confirms its status as one of the most important in the world: the country ranks first in regards to geological variety, with more than 1,200 types of marble and granite quarried, fourth place for production and fifth for the value of exports to 132 countries worth 1.17 billion euros. Brazil is the largest supplier to the U.S. market and a major supplier to China for unhewn blocks of natural stone.
Regarding trade with Italy, Brazil is one of the largest buyers of “Made in Italy” machinery and equipment for processing natural stone materials.
Moving Marmomac Brazil to São Paulo, while retaining the same February dates, will make it possible to diversify the trade fair's market and audience by targeting, in particular, the North American area. The city -- one of the most populous in the world with 12 million inhabitants -- enjoys a logistically more favorable location for attracting new attendance, such as architects, interior designers, construction companies and other professionals directly or indirectly linked with the purchase, sale and application of natural stone materials in large projects.
