Summary Report of the 2012 Essen Tire Exhibition, Germany

　　The 27th Reifen 2012, Essen International Tire Fair, was successfully held from June 5th to 8th at the Essen Trade Fair Ground. This exhibition was jointly organized by the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce and Dongying City Bureau of Commerce, and undertaken by Shandong Zhenghe International Exhibition Co., Ltd.

　　Reifen, the Essen International Tire Fair, is the world's largest, most influential, and most professional tire exhibition, showcasing the latest products and technologies in the tire industry. Almost all major international tire manufacturers exhibit at the show. Founded in 1960, the exhibition is held every two years in even-numbered years and has been successfully held for 27 sessions; in odd-numbered years, Bologna, Italy, also hosts a tire and auto parts exhibition. Concurrently, industry seminars and lectures are held, allowing exhibitors to gain the latest industry trends and professional information from an international platform.

　　This exhibition attracted 653 manufacturers and trading companies from 44 countries and regions worldwide, with the number of exhibitors increasing by 15% compared to the previous session, and 3 new exhibition halls added. During the four-day exhibition, a total of 19,000 professional visitors from over 130 countries and regions worldwide attended for viewing and purchasing, an 8% increase in visitor numbers compared to the previous session.

　　At this exhibition, our province's participating enterprises generally enhanced their awareness of promoting independent brands compared to previous sessions, fully recognizing the importance of brand creation. Among them, Triangle Tyre, Wanda Boto Tyre, Hengfeng Rubber & Plastic, Shengtai Tyre, Xingyuan Tyre, Deruibao Tyre, Hengyu Tyre, Guofeng Rubber, Yongsheng Tyre, Yongtai Chemical, Jinyu Tyre, Linglong Tyre, and other enterprises applied for larger bare spaces and specially decorated their booths, highlighting their corporate image, promoting independent brands, and attracting a large number of visitors for negotiation. Several enterprises achieved significant gains at this exhibition.

　　At this exhibition, our exhibitors received a total of about 3,360 visitors, negotiated 33 projects, and achieved an intended transaction volume of 460 million US dollars. 88% of the attendees had company decision-making power, and more than one-third of the visitors reached purchasing intentions on-site. 93% of the exhibitors explicitly stated that they would continue to participate in the next exhibition. Exhibitors expressed that the exhibition was very professional, had good results, and they were quite satisfied with it; at the same time, exhibitors highly praised our company's ground handling services and stated that they would continue to explore overseas markets with our exhibition group.

　　Although the primary export destination for China's tire industry remains North America, demand growth has begun to shift to regions such as Europe and Central and South America. In 2011, despite a slowdown in European economic growth, automobile sales in Europe showed significant increases, with Germany's annual car sales growing by as much as 10%, and France, Spain, and other countries also experiencing rapid increases. This factor directly led to a large demand for tires. In 2011, the total value of tires exported by China to EU countries exceeded 200 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 65%, and the year-on-year growth of tire exports to other European countries was as high as 150%. Europe is playing an increasingly important role in China's tire export share.

　　Facing the relatively stable rubber tire market in Europe, as the only unit in Shandong Province directly authorized by the Ministry of Commerce to organize overseas exhibitions, our company will continue to strive to recommend the vast overseas market to numerous rubber tire and auto parts enterprises in Shandong Province.

　　With the strong support from the Provincial Department, Dongying City Bureau, and other municipal bureaus, this exhibition was a complete success. In May 2013, our company will continue to organize more rubber tire and auto parts enterprises to participate in the Bologna International Tire and Auto Parts Exhibition in Italy, providing them with an excellent platform for promotion and ensuring comprehensive logistical support for their participation.