Next SIMA and EIMA Agricultural Industry Shows to Overlap in 2020

FederUnacoma says the decision to move the SIMA show to the same time as EIMA creates havoc in the international calendar of events dedicated to agricultural machinery.

FederUnacoma

The SIMA Parisian show announces a radical change of dates to overlap with the EIMA international exhibition in November 2020. The decision, which creates havoc in the international calendar of events dedicated to agricultural machinery, aims to tarnish the leadership of the Bologna exhibition, harming the manufacturing industries in planning their activities and promotional investments.

With a press release issued recently, the French Exhibitions formalized the decision to move the SIMA international exhibition of agricultural machinery from its traditional schedule, in February of odd years, to a new one in November of even years, overlapping with the EIMA of Bologna. The first edition of the new calendar was set for November 8-12, in partial overlap with the Bologna event already scheduled from 11-15 of that month. The decision by the French organizers, communicated after they had publicly declared, during the SIMA at the end of February, that they would not change the dates of their event, is - according to the Federation of Italian Manufacturers FederUnacoma, organizer of EIMA - a hostile and harmful act.

"Hostile because it aims to tarnish the leadership of the Bologna exhibition," explains FederUnacoma President Alessandro Malavolti "and harmful because it creates an imbalance in the European landscape of industry events, which will thus have only one event in odd years, the Agritechnica in Hannover, and four other exhibitions (EIMA of Bologna, FIMA of Zaragoza, Fieragricola of Verona, and SIMA of Paris) in even years."

"But above all," specifies Malavolti "the new structure harms the companies that make equipment for agriculture, landscaping, and their components, forcing them to multiply the economic efforts in the same year or to forego some exhibitions for the benefit of others, with significant damage in terms of visibility and business opportunities." In practice, the new positioning of SIMA harms both small companies, forced to choose between Paris and Bologna, and large companies, which, to attend both events, will probably have to completely redesign their stands. Furthermore, in the transition from odd to even years, the exhibiting industries will find themselves forced to invest for two consecutive years (2019-2020) in France, which is expensive and not very useful especially for non-French industries.

In the opinion of the Federation of Italian Manufacturers, it is very negative that this decision was not discussed by the association of French manufacturers AXEMA within CEMA, the European Committee which is the natural venue in which to safeguard and reconcile the interests of this sector's companies. EIMA, strong in its own tradition and the formidable results obtained in the last editions - which have led it to clearly surpassing the French event in terms of exhibitors, visitors, technical content and prestige in the international sector - therefore confirms the established dates, to take place from 11-15 November 2020, at the Bologna exhibition complex.

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