Bife Timb in Bucharest suffered at the latest edition

From 2 to 6 September, Bucharest hosted the 18^th Bife Timb, organized by the fair company Romexpo and dedicated to the wood industry, mainly woodworking machinery, semifinished materials, furniture components and finished furniture.
There were 309 exhibitors covering a net area of 12 thousand square meters, however only 20 percent were taken by woodworking machinery. Due to the global economic crisis, also the number of visitors decreased substantially compared to last year. So, an event with a difficult situation, according to the general opinion of Italian exhibitors who attended directly or through local agents/importers: the number of contacts during the trade show was quite low and there was an increasing demand for used machinery.
However, the exhibition recorded moderate optimism among tool manufacturers, who are suffering from a market shrinkage by 20-25 percent.
A survey among local furniture makers highlighted the problems they have to invest in machinery: dropping demand is forcing machinery users to reduce their production volumes and postpone the renovation of their production technology. In Bucharest, Acimall (the Italian woodworking machinery and tools manufacturers’ association, www.acimall.com) had an information stand in hall 1. (c.a.s.)