The first edition of Jakarta International Natural Stone and Technology Fair, which was held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, or officially known as the Republic of Indonesia, did not satisfy the participants.
With a population of over 250 million, the Republic of Indonesia is a Republic consisting of 17,508 islands and the seventh biggest economy in the world. There are more than 8,500 people living on these 17,508 islands of the Muslim country. The numbers say that it is a correct address to hold a sectoral fair. However, fair organization business is new to Indonesia. For this reason, the attention shown to this event was not high enough. Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is a city with high amount of polarization. There are both neighborhoods where rich people live and the outskirts where the poor population lives in the crowded city. Numerous skyscrapers and shopping malls in the city center are home to luxury brands. You can see Turkish marbles in most of the shopping malls. It is observed that stones such as Classic Beige of Amasya, Sofita of Bilecik, Kemalpaşa White of Devecikonağı town of Bursa Mustafa Kemalpaşa are found dense especially in the mall decorations.
”You Don’t Need To Come Here”
We have explored the reasons of the low visitor density at Jakarta Stone Fair although marble is a widely used material in Indonesia. The first reason is the number of natural stone processing plants operating in Indonesia is 16. Of these, the number of companies purchasing stone from Turkey is around six. Even the owners of local companies did not show any interest in the exhibition and there was no local companies from Indonesia. I think that was the first indicator of low interest paid for the fair. Furthermore, The owners of Indonesian natural stone processing plants think that organizing such a fair here is wrong. The owner of one of the local companies that buys significant amount of purchases from Turkey explains this as follows: “We are already buying stone from Turkey. We are meeting marble producers in the sectoral fairs such as Izmir MARBLE, Verona Marmomacc and Xiamen and make our natural stone purchases. You don’t need to come here!” I think this explanation, clearly explains why visitors do not visit the fair in Jakarta.
UR-GE Projects are ideal for such countries!
We left behind a fair, which was wrong in practice. Although it is promising for the market’s future, I think it was a fair that is not sufficient. Almost all of the participants said they would not participate in the fair for a second time and would try to follow the Indonesian market in a different way. Maybe UR-GE projects are ideal for such countries!
Statistics:
The number of participating companies from Turkey: 30
Total number of exhibitors: 80
Number of participating countries: 8
Opinions about the fair:
Aycan Mermer, Aytaş Akın Mermer, Başarırlar Mermer, Batu Mermer, Betamer Mad., BG Mermercilik, Çalışkanerler Mermer, Çiçekmersan Mermer, Çimado Madencilik, Dali Madencilik, Elkay Kimyasal Maddeler, Hasdaş Madencilik, Hürok İnşaat Mermer, İmsa Mermer, İstanbul Doğaltaş, Lina Mermer, Mardif Madencilik, Metreküp Madencilik, Olympos Mermer, Özyılmazlar Mermer, Prusa Mermer, Remar İnşaat, Reme Madencilik Mermer, Savaş Granit Mermer, Sezgin Mermer, Sinoplu Kardeşler, Şenler Mermer, Şuayp Demirel Madencilik, Troika İnşaat, Yesmar Mermer Yurtmer Mermer
I think the promotion was insufficient!
Verda Habib / Elkay A.Ş.
What can be the reason why a fair held in Indonesia, which is the fourth biggest country in terms of population and the seventh largest in terms of population cannot attract visitors? We did not see any promotional work even between the hotel we stayed and the area where the fair was held. I never thought this fair could be so insufficient in terms of visitors. There must be at least one marble atelier on each island in a country with over 8 thousand islands. There must be kitchen countertops, flooring and facade cladding in the houses in these islands. There would be serious amount of visitors if the owners of even the small-scale ateliers operating on the islands, would have came.
It was a waste of time for us!
Bahadır Meral / Prusa Marble
We are looking for markets where we can fill the gap in the market arising from the shrinking Chinese market. Indonesia was one of the markets that attracted us. However, the fair was not as expected. It was a rather slow trade fair. It was a waste of time and cash for us. An exhibition costs thousands of dollars. Fairs must be held after the conditions of the place and market are thoroughly researched. It was a waste of time and money for us and many other who came from thousands of miles away.