The global agricultural machinery market is concentrated in Asia, but the large commercial "platforms" are firmly in Europe. In recent years, sales of agricultural machinery in the Far East have grown beyond all expectations and the markets of India and China have absorbed more than half of the total tractors sold in the world in 2016 (over 990,000 units out of 1.9 million total). Meanwhile countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines are expressing a growing demand for mechanization and will contribute in the near future to unbalance the market of agricultural machinery and equipment even more evidently.
Nevertheless, the most important trade fairs in the world, those where the Asian operators come to stay informed on technologies and negotiate the purchase of machinery, are in Europe. Positioned at the highest levels on the world stage, EIMA in Bologna represents the crossroads of world trade in the agricultural machinery sector, together with the exhibitions in Hanover, Zaragoza and Paris, consolidating Europe as the hub of reference for the sector.
Organized by FederUnacoma, the federation of Italian manufacturers, EIMA International will hold its 43rd edition from November 7-11 at the Bologna exhibition center, aiming to further improve the record results of the 2016 edition, when the event recorded 2,000 exhibiting industries, 300,000 visitors from 150 countries, and 70 official foreign delegations.
"The EIMA International showcase is constantly growing in terms of exhibition area and visitors," explained the CEO of FederUnacoma Massimo Goldoni during a press conference FederUnacoma held in Brussels at the European Parliament "And with its latest editions it has established itself as the one with the highest level of internationality. Operators from every continent meet in Bologna to find out all the news in the field of machinery for agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, landscaping and sector components and accessories - as was explained during the conference - to find suitable solutions for every model of agriculture, from the highly industrialized one of the American plains to the specialized one of the Mediterranean area, and that on a family scale typical of vast regions of Asia and Africa. The 2018 edition of EIMA International will see the debut of the new Exhibition specialized in irrigation and water management systems, EIMA Idrotech (which joins the shows EIMA Components, dedicated to components, EIMA Green, dedicated to gardening and landscaping, EIMA Energy, centred on technologies for the exploitation of bioenergy, and EIMA MiA, dedicated to multifunctionality and land maintenance). The next November edition will see the debut of a new exhibition pavilion, the first step in a radical exhibition district renovation project launched by BolognaFiere, envisaging the construction of other pavilions and the overall redevelopment of the district.
"The contract that FederUnacoma has renewed with the Bologna exhibition organization," said Goldoni "links the showcase of agricultural machinery to the city of Bologna until 2030, and envisages the progressive completion of the new structures so as to be able to accommodate in a more efficient and comfortable way the requests of the manufacturing industries and the vast audience of visitors, who at EIMA International find not only technologies, but a full schedule of meetings and conferences on technical, economic and political topics.
"The biennial frequency of the event," Goldoni concluded "is fundamental to guarantee significant product news for each edition, but also to create sufficient continuity in the analysis of policies for agriculture and industry." The conference on the "Political Agenda for European agricultural machinery", for example - which in 2016 opened a roundtable discussion between industry and the political world - will be repeated in this year's edition, intended to monitor the development of policies for the sector and expand upon very topical issues.