Show organisers Messe Düsseldorf revealed the interim figures last Thursday, covering visitor and exhibitor numbers, as well as half-time sales and national growth trends.

Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, drupa president and Koenig & Bauer chief executive, said on Wednesday: “By this evening, 213,000 visitors from 115 countries have passed through the turnstiles – 64 per cent of them international. The trend at the event is extremely positive.”

Inkjet presses and digital print engines seemed to be leading the sales charge at the show, with presses flying off the HP and Xerox stands, among others.

Meanwhile, heavy-metal manufacturers Goss, Heidelberg, Koenig & Bauer and manroland all began the show as the they meant to go on, with orders from the very first day.

On the prepress side, Agfa led the charge, announcing two significant five-year plate deals in the first week, as well as selling several units of its new Avalon VLF platesetter.

Of the show’s 213,000 first-week visitors, 15.2 per cent were from Asia – representing a rise of 3 per cent on 2004, and 7.4 per cent were from South and Central America, whose attendance was up from 4.7 per cent last Drupa.

The Drupacube and the Drupa Innovation Park, both of which are new features of drupa 2008, were singled out for praise by the Messe, which is already planning ahead for drupa 2012.

In an announcement earlier this week, Messe Düsseldorf revealed that the 15th drupa will take place from May 3 to 16, 2012.

Drupa halftime numbers:
213,000 visitors
1,971 exhibitors
52 nations exhibiting
175,000sqm stand space
104,202sqm from international companies

Read the original article at www.printweek.com.

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