About 39,343 people attended Domotex Asia/ChinaFloor on March 22-24 in Shanghai, close to the 40,414 people who attended the event last year. There were 1,060 companies exhibiting at the show, and the amount of floor space was up 15 percent over 2010 figures.
Approximately 350 people attended the first Wood Flooring Forum. Don Finkell, CEO of Shaw's Anderson Hardwood Floors, attended that forum, during which the ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations involving Chinese engineered wood flooring were discussed. Overall, he said, Chinese members of the wood flooring industry view the investigations as a form of trade "protectionism."
Palo Duro Hardwoods' (Denver) Jeff Fairbanks, who was representing the NWFA at the expo, was part of the Wood Flooring Forum panel. He said representatives of the Asian flooring industry expressed concern over the true aims of the U.S. Lacey Act, as well. "The Lacey Act is still something they don't totally understand-they think we're trying to impose our laws on foreign market," Fairbanks said. "But actually, we're just trying to uphold laws of each flooring-producing nation."
On the whole, Finkell and Fairbanks both said the mood of the show was upbeat. Comparing Asia's recent healthy economic performance with that of the United States', Fairbanks said, "It seemed like they hadn't missed a beat."
Next year, Domotex Asia will be held at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center on March 27-29.
