SGI exhibition sees 10% growth this year

The Sign and Graphic Imaging Middle East 2010 (SGI) is expected to see a 10 per cent growth in 2010 compared to 2009, said exhibition organisers.

The exhibition, held from January 25 to 27, is projecting growth despite the industry being hit hard last year due to the decrease in demand on advertising raw material as advertising budget cuts affected out of home media.

Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, President, IEC, Organisers of SGI, said: "Although the advertising market has seen a dip, registrations have dramatically increased from Asia particularly from Taiwan, India, Korea and China, with local and regional companies preparing to showcase new technologies at the show.

"SGI 2010 will showcase the latest products and emerging technologies from the industries of advertising, architectural hardware, banners and posters, digital imaging, electronic message centres, electronic signage, graphic imaging, large format printing and signage."

He added: "The upcoming SGI 2010 will see numerous new technologies unveiled to the market. More and more marketing professionals are turning to alternative advertising avenues, such as e-marketing, direct marketing and digital signage, in a bid to bolster retail sales across the Middle East. These new-age technologies are being showcased at SGI 2010, and are expected to attract interest from buyers keen to find a flexible signage solution."

Although organisers of Sign and Graphic Imaging Middle East have announced a positive 20 per cent growth for the 11th edition of the exhibition, exhibitors remained apprehensive of the global crisis' impact on their business this year.

Some of the exhibitors said at the conclusion of the annual exhibition that traffic did not match their expectations.

"There has been a healthy growth in the number of exhibitors. However, the visitor numbers have declined slightly on previous years. The official count of SGI 09 visitors was 9,500," organisers told Emirates Business last year.

An exhibitor at the 2010 edition of SGI said this year was looking better than 2009 and that demand for LED signage and displays will increase as Government here is beginning to insist on changing to more eco-friendly technologies.

This year's Gold sponsor of SGI 2010, Digi Matrix technologies, will showcase newly developed Digi Cam CNC and Laser Router.

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.