HOSPITALAR 2010 Scores Another Hit

The 17th edition of HOSPITALAR (Sao Paulo, Brazil) fair and forum, held from May 25-28, 2010, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was a success, and again broke its own records. The event occupied the five exhibition halls of Expo Center Norte, where 1,250 local and foreign exhibitors displayed the latest in healthcare products, equipment, and services.

The fair registered a record volume of direct business and prospected future deals with local and global healthcare concerns. The fair, which has grown nearly 20% a year over the last three years, elicited exhibitor comments to the effect that the 2010 edition, "was the best of the last few years,” and that the visitors' profile was, "… professional and representative of the whole healthcare chain.” HOSPITALAR is also considered an excellent indicator of the Brazilian healthcare sector, whose total activity amounts to over 8% of the country's GDP.

HOSPITALAR boosted the number of visitors to 89,000, which represents a 4% increase over the previous year. Most significantly, however, was the 22% increase of visitors from abroad: this year the showrooms featured over 500 exhibitors from 36 countries, while visitors represented 54 diverse countries such as the U.S., Indonesia, Russia, North Korea, Angola, and Pakistan. The fair also serves as the global platform for suppliers to reach Latin American buyers. Notably, among the 15 countries that were mostly represented by visitors, 12 were Latin American: Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.

Thanks to its management forum, represented this year by nearly 60 joint events, the fair has augmented its standing in the healthcare community with conferences, seminars, and sector meetings that attracted an elite of thinkers, strategists and managers of public and private health organization who presented and debated proposals for the development of the sector and overall democratization of healthcare.

In all, exhibitors' comments were very positive: Reynaldo Goto, manager of strategic marketing at Siemens, said that sales demands were much higher than in 2009, "We were positively surprised by the number of visitors from all Latin America. This fair has also become reference in the continent.” Fanem, a leading Brazilian manufacturer of neonatology products, ended their participation in HOSPITALAR 2010 with US$828,000 in closed deals. "But we expect to reach $2.5 million in sales over the next few months as consequence of the business contacts we've made throughout the event,” said Djalma Rodrigues, industrial manager. In addition, Importers visiting from Egypt and Algeria commented on the improved quality of hospital products produced in Brazil, and pronounced them to be competitive in the world market.

The next edition of HOSPITALAR will take place May 24-27, 2011, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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