Singapore Expo once again hosted one of the finest furniture shows of the region--International Furniture Fair 2008, which took place in conjunction with the 25th Asean Furniture Show. Staged from 9 - 12 March 2008, the show recorded an attendance of 18,361 trade visitors from 129 countries. The popular show showcased the best of Asian and International furniture to great success, achieving an estimated USD 271 million of spot orders. The excellent results reaffirmed the effectiveness of the IFFS/AFS as a business gateway to the Asian and international market for global trade players.

A total of 118 foreign buying delegations visited the four-day event. As a result of the business partnerships and opportunities forged at the fair, an additional amount estimated at USD 2.45 billion, is expected in follow-on sales. IFFS/AFS 2008 also generated an approximate USD 45 million in economic spin-offs for Singapore’s Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) and tourism sectors. A truly record-breaking event, IFFS/AFS 2008 has already established itself as the largest in its 25-year history. This year, the fair played host to a record number of 517 exhibitors from 33 countries. With over 60,000 pieces of furniture and furnishings on display at the fair, buyers were amazed at the collection, drawing them into a dilemma for choice, as each item seemed to be the best. The myriad of high-quality furniture and furnishings available further strengthened IFFS/AFS’ reputation as a one-stop Asia-wide furniture sourcing platform.

As India is renowned for its manufacturing of good quality furniture, tradeindia.com also exhibited for the 2nd time at the International Furniture Fair Singapore 2008. With the objective of promoting Indian Exporters and Manufacturers at most major and popular destinations globally, Tradeindia participated in the event. Our goal of harnessing the potential of growing markets of Far East Asia & making the buyers of those countries look towards India as a popular destination for their sourcing needs proved fruitful.

Overall, Tradeindia's participation at the show was quite satisfactory with visiting buyers and exhibiting companies appreciating Tradeindia's efforts of being at leading shows and circulating info of Indian suppliers. Most visitors who received Tradeindia CD Roms felt that these would help them in identifying business partners from India. As always, Tradeindia's promotional yellow bags were very popular among the visitors and on all 4 days of the show, these spacey carry-ons, exhibiting the presence of Tradeindia, were seen carried by the buyers all across the venue. The positive feedback generated at the show will surely help Tradeindia in achieving its objectives & we look forward to being a part of the show in its next edition in 2009.