Feedback from exhibitors of Khimia 2019
Viktor Ivanov, President, the Russian Chemists Union:
- Some 15-20 years ago the stands of Russian companies often looked really embarrassing. Not all of them, of course, but some did. They were tackily decorated, and their displays were arranged in a clumsy and unskillful way. If you look at the Russian displays now, you won't be able to tell the stands of the Russian companies from those of the foreign ones. Russian companies have begun to understand that exhibitions are an extremely powerful development tool for them.
Another thing I would like to draw your attention to is the fact that exhibitions have turned into networking and knowledge-sharing hubs where people meet and hold various business-related events.
All exhibitors we talked to spoke about their recent innovations such as new materials and new technologies. They also described what kind of help they had received from the government bodies, and what kind of support they still wanted to get. Everyone is interested to see more products of the high-tech production sector at the exhibitions.
In the future we would like to draw more exhibitors from other countries, although their attendance of the exhibition this year is very high indeed. We are also considering ways to expand our programme of business-related events. This will enable us to attract even more specialists and business. We will try to select subjects that would be of equal interest for local and international companies.
Expocentre does everything to make us feel at home at the venue. The company is a member of the Russian Chemists Union and they support us providing very favourable conditions and we, on our part, take every effort to promote this exhibition venue as one of the best in Russia. And this is just what it is.
Irina Vendilo, Director General, the ROSHIMREAKTIV Association:
- A decision to take part in any large-scale event like the Khimia Exhibition is always taken by the Board of Partners representing 25 member-organisations, and the decision to participate in Khimia 2019 was taken at the end of last year. This is not our inaugural participation in the exhibition. We have taken part in every edition of the Khimia Exhibition over the past 10 years.
Recent years have seen the number of our members exhibiting at the show grow steadily, particularly as part of our group display. We see that exhibiting as part of a group stand makes it possible to communicate more information about your company. Our association represents a wide range of sectors. Among the members of our association are companies developing and manufacturing fine and specialty chemicals, as well as developers, manufacturers and suppliers of labware, furniture and equipment. When visitors come to the stand, we can show them a really wide and high-quality range of products, something that is naturally highly appreciated. The companies that decide to take part in the group stand, do register a positive after-effect of exhibiting.
The feedback from our members shows that trade fairs featuring research and production – and the Khimia Exhibition in particular – enables them to expand their insight. It goes without saying that we work on growing the network of contacts within our association, but the Moscow International Chemical Forum and various conferences and round-table discussions offered by the exhibition help the plans for strategic development of the participating businesses to acquire momentum.
This year our association in cooperation with the Russian Chemists Union and Expocentre held one of the panel discussions on digitisation of the chemical industry as part of the Chemical Forum. It enjoyed great success – featured 12 highly reputable speakers and saw a very heated debate. What I liked best about it in the first place is that as a specialist, who is not directly involved in software design but rather representing the chemical industry, I understood everything that was discussed there. Also, I found answers to many questions there, and the session enabled me to build a development strategy which I can now offer to the industry businesses. Through the supporting events of the Khimia Exhibition we get a stimulus not only to design our strategy in theory but also implement it in practice.
I achieved the goal I had set for the show which was to ensure that representatives of the industry in search of information technologies applicable to the sector and designers of those would meet and talk. They did, and now we can watch them network. I hope it will be a long-term cooperation, and in a year we will be able to meet in order to set new goals and identify new growth points.
Nikolay Mayev, Head of the Chemistry Division, Swagelok Russia:
- It is the first Khimia exhibition in years that we take part in. The chemical industry is gaining momentum. We can see that there are a lot of promising projects which we would like to take part in and fulfil our potential. By participating in the exhibition, we would like to find new partners and foster our relations with the existing customers.
We have two kinds of visitors at our stand. The first category comprises of people who know us very well and have been working with us. The other group is made of people who meet us for the first time. Today we have had the busiest day with lots of R&D specialists coming to our stand. Our three stand attendants didn't have enough time for every visitor. They didn't have time to answer all questions. If the level of activity stays the same, we are very likely to take part in the exhibition next year.
Artyom Volovikov, Director General, Araska Tech OOO:
- We keep a close eye on the key industry events, the platforms where specialists, colleagues, partners and competitors meet. We do believe that Khimia is one of the main trade shows for the chemical industry, hence the decision to take part in it.
The Khimia Exhibition is a display of ideas. The Startup ChemZone of the show is a real treat for us and also a very useful tool. Attending the Startup ChemZone is affordable for small companies and it is effective indeed. Among the visitors are various industry specialists from inventors to representatives of major corporations.
If you ask me whether I am satisfied with the feedback, my answer will be 'Yes. Absolutely'. We take each visit to our stand as targeted and promising. Now we are facing a big task which is to contact every visitor, speak with them and find out how we can be of help to them. It is a huge lot of work, and the show is merely the beginning of it.
Our interest in exhibiting grows year on year. At each edition of Khimia we meet some exhibitors and visitors who we met before. So we meet and discuss real tasks and projects.
Aleksei Kusavlev, Director General, Nouryon OOO:
- We have taken part in the Khimia Exhibition for many years. We used to do it as part of AkzoNobel. This year we participate as Nouryon. It is a new company which has inherited 400 years' experience from AkzoNobel because Nouryon is the successor to AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals. Now we are focused on producing chemical products solely and exclusively. The decision to participate in the exhibition was easy to take. Our goal is to show our competitors that we work in Russia, and we are planning to work even more effectively and expand our business.
Our stand imitates the structure of an atom surrounded with electrons. The scope of our activity in Russia is very big. We supply products to Russia's chemical and petrochemical markets, to the road construction industry, food processing industry, household chemicals and cosmetics industry, and many other sectors.
We keep generating business leads. This exhibition is very successful for our company.
Anna Yakovleva, Head of Sales, EKROSHIM OOO:
- We take part in Khimia almost every year therefore we had no doubts about our participation this year. The trade show is very interesting. The number of prospect clients grows year on year. Here we are showcasing our equipment.
One reason why we take part in the show is that it is a place for us to meet with our long-term clients. Here we can meet face-to-face and discuss various issues. Also here we can show our equipment to them. Networking face-to-face helps addressing all previously raised questions. Here they can be solved much faster. Also, we meet prospect customers and tell them about our company and our equipment. We always generate a lot of new business leads at this exhibition.
New customers are attracted by our innovative products. The largest group of our prospect clients is end-users who are representatives of laboratories or purchasing managers of chemical enterprises. They are followed in number by wholesalers promoting and selling our products. They are mostly from Russia, but some of them are from the former USSR states and the Customs Union.
We'll start preparing for the next exhibition once this one is over. We always endeavour to achieve as many goals as possible during the show otherwise there is no use participating.
Tamara Gudim, Head of Marketing, OKCHEM:
- It is not the first time that we have taken part in the Khimia Exhibition. The theme of the exhibition corresponds with the concept of our company. All in all, we are satisfied with the results. Participation in the exhibition enables us to generate a lot of business leads. Also, we meet with numerous prospect customers, and we have an opportunity to communicate with them for quite a long time. We are a specialist b2b platform for the chemical industry. We seek prospect buyers for the members of our b2b platform.
The chemical industry is one of the few sectors where Russia has a leading position in the global market. The value-for-money ratio of the Russian products gives them an edge over the competitors in the international market. Therefore our forecast is that Russia's export will be growing.
As for the exhibition itself, it is changing very fast. It came as a welcome surprise for us to witness the launch of a new service at the show. The organisers do their best and more. So the exhibition will keep developing and offer new ideas and solutions to its participants. The geographical scope of the exhibitors and visitors, as well as their numbers will also continue to grow. It means we will go on taking part in the following editions because the show is a place to meet our long-term partners and find new ones. And this is extremely important. Companies should grow their business and expand their network of contacts. We are sure to take part in Khimia next year and we will bring our new partners with us.
Boris Levin, Deputy Head of the Director General’s Administration, PhosAgro PAO:
- This exhibition is of great significance to our company that is why we take part in it every year with our own stand and also take part in business-related events. We put a lot of effort into preparing for the exhibition, working on several stand design options because an exhibition stand communicates the company image. The current stand is the best of all we have had over the years of participation in the exhibition.
We hold a lot of important meetings with our partners, suppliers and students of universities for chemical technology here. As I said, we prepare for the exhibitions very carefully and try to put on display new products each time. This year our stand is showcasing developments of the Research and Development Institute for Fertilisers, Insecticides and Fungicides and a large portfolio of applied research and technology achievements, our exhibits are diverse from products and projects to new trends in our sector. It is very important for us to share knowledge with specialists from allied industry sectors. It is vital to keep in touch with our partners and customers. This year representatives of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade in charge of the chemical industry paid a visit to our stand.
2019 is a landmark year for us because this year is the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. Also, we are celebrating 90 years since the mining of the apatite ore began at the main plant in Kirovsk and the centenary of the Research and Development Institute for Fertilisers, Insecticides and Fungicides.
We will continue to take part in Khimia to demonstrate a stable development of our company. We hope that Expocentre will stay at the leading edge of the exhibition industry and wish the company prosperity and energy to grow the network of exhibitors. Expocentre has always been focused on the promotion of national and international science, engineering and technology.
Yevgeny Makhov, First Deputy Director General, NORCHEM Group:
- The idea behind our participation in Khimia is to show both existing products and also projects ready to be implemented. We are discussing these projects with our clients in order to put them into practice shortly. Clients are becoming more and more demanding nowadays. They come to us to get a new idea or product and promote it to the market. And that idea or product should let them not just stay afloat but place them at the leading edge of the market. What all clients are seeking now is products that will enable them to surpass imported products instead of merely substituting them.
Our company comprises five R&D laboratories working in different fields. Our stand is demonstrating how our company has evolved. We have given a chance to our young specialists to put on display everything they have achieved and we are glad to register that this form of networking is effective.
Expocentre's work is not limited to making us feel comfortable at the venue, the company allows us to arrange our work the way that is most beneficial to us. So we plan to keep cooperating with Expocentre. Some exhibition projects come and go, but we hope that Expocentre and the Khimia Exhibition will always be part of the business world.
Mohhamad Pezeshk, International Commercial Director, PGPICC, Gas, Fuel and Chemicals:
- Our company is rather young. It is around eight years old. The company is the largest in Iran, and we are doing our best to grow our business and enter new markets with our products. It is with this goal that we have come to Russia, because we consider the Russian market very promising.
At the Khimia Exhibition we are showcasing a whole range of our chemical and polymer products. I must say that the number of visitors to the show has exceeded all our expectations. Our current goal is to perform the analysis of the market for our products in the CIS countries where the demand for our products also exists.
Khimia is a must-attend industry event for us. I hope that we will take part in the next edition of this trade show. May I wish this project success and further development. We hope that it will continue to introduce new effective tools making international cooperation more fruitful.
Mikhail Petrushin, Director General, ZIRAX OOO:
- Our company has been a regular exhibitor at the Khimia Exhibition for 11 years. Most of our products and projects are created in cooperation with our existing customers and prospect clients that we meet at this exhibition. Every edition draws growing number of partners to our company, which means that our business keeps growing. Some 50% of our partners have been sourced at Khimia.
At the 2019 edition our stand is demonstrating a new branch of our business that is surfactants produced by Volgodonsk NIIPAV. We have also introduced a new subject into the programme of events. We hope that this year, as before, we will be able to expand our network of clients.
The results of exhibiting at Khimia shows that our existing and long-term customers constitute 70% of all clients coming to our stand, and 30% is prospect clients with plans to cooperate in the coming year. On the opening day our stand welcomed more than 50 new clients, which is a very promising result. Also, at this show we met representatives of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade at our stand and agreed that they will visit our company in Volgodonsk to have an opportunity to discuss our cooperation in more detail.
We are sure to take part in Khimia next year. We have got a few projects related to import substitution which we would like to show to the business community.