The 12th edition of SteelFab registered major success with more than 8,000 visitors attending the trade fair that was held in January (17 to 20) in Sharjah, UAE.

As many as 370 exhibitors from 43 countries showcased more than 1,000 brands at all the six halls of Expo Centre Sharjah. The foreign presence at SteelFab was led by country pavilions including Italy (31 exhibitors), Germany (23) and Taiwan (22), apart from exhibitors from Turkey, China and India.

The trade fair saw impressive performance in terms of visitor pre-registrations and turnout, sales, business leads and industry response during its four-day run, said Saif Mohammed Al Midfa, CEO, Expo Centre Sharjah.

The visitor pre-registrations touched 4,628 from nearly 75 countries, while visitor turnout stood at 8,176.

New special focus areas, special pavilions, live displays, technical seminars and product presentations ensured that the show remained the best sourcing platform for the manufacturing industry and core sectors like construction, infrastructure, plastics, cement and ceramics, oil and gas, ship building and pipelines, among others, according to Al Midfa.

SteelFab 2016 also saw the launch of a new vertical, Fasteners World Middle East, besides the introduction of two special focus areas such as stainless steel and wear-resistant and hard facing cladding. The new vertical proved to be a boon for main contractors, construction companies, and the oil and gas, shipbuilding and heavy manufacturing industries.

 The other special focus areas at SteelFab exhibition included welding and cutting, machine tools and pipe and tube machinery along with the three special segments of Steel-Tech, Fabricators Pavilion and Steel Showcase, benefiting the country’s cement and ceramics industries and fabricators.

There were a total of 19 seminars that featured leading manufacturers.

Next year’s edition is scheduled to take place from January 16 to 19.