Shanghai surprise

For those tempted to make the trip east to source relatively inexpensive lenses or frames direct from manufacturers, it is difficult to know which of the four major shows to choose from. Mark Mackenzie reports from Shanghai

Until two years ago anyone interested in frame or lens purchasing asking which Asian exhibition would suit them best would probably be advised to go for the Hong Kong Optical Fair, held every November.

Preceding Hong Kong in the year are IOFT in Japan (October), the China Beijing Optical Trade Fair (September) and the China Shanghai Optical Trade Fair (February). Times are changing and the Shanghai and Beijing Optical Trade Fairs have grown in importance. The 5th Optics Fair in Shanghai, held on February 24-27, showed the high strategic priority which China occupies in the world vision care market.

In 2004 the optical industry in China achieved an export value of $915m. This corresponds to an 18 per cent increase over the previous year.

Against this stands an import of optical goods of just $111m. However, this represents an increase of more than 35 per cent.

With an exhibition area of 35,000sq m, the trade fair in the Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Centre is not only about 12 per cent larger than last year, but also larger than the 2004 fair in Beijing with 28,000sq m.

Although the number of exhibitors is still smaller than its sister show (650 versus 700), it rose this year by more than 20 per cent. According to the organisers, exhibitors came from Denmark, France, Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland and England, as well as the US. From Asia the following countries were also present: Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. Altogether, over 200 exhibitors came from a foreign country.

An estimated 40,000 visitors attended this year's fair. As the counting method has probably been adapted to the method used in Europe, one has to take into account in this number, visitors who came more than once.