TISE EAST: The U.S. economy reboots

19.01.2015

IN A CONFIDENT CLIMATE A NEW FAIR IS BORN BUT NEEDS TO BE STRENGTHENED TO ATTRACT MORE EXHIBITORS AND VISITORS

The newborn TISE, The International Surface Event, engendered by a merger of StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas, Surfaces and TileExpo and successfully launched in January in Las Vegas – where it returns from January 20 to 23, 2015 – opened its doors on the East Coast, too, at the Miami Beach Convention Center, from October 19 to 22.

The new location in Miami Beach, Florida, one of America’s favorite vacation spots (and featured in myriad films and TV films) whose very name evokes sunshine, palm trees and the good life, was a strategic choice. In fact, while a separate community, Miami Beach is an offshoot of Miami, which not only features a very high concentration of foreign banks but also a port and an airport that’s a heavily trafficked access to the United States, especially for passengers and cargo coming from the Caribbean and South America. In addition, Florida has big reserves of stone,especially limestone.

Organized by Hanley Wood Exhibitions and officially sponsored by the Marble Institute of America (MIA), the Natural Stone Council, the Building Stone Institute (BSI) and World Floor Covering Association (WFCA), TISE East had a long list of supporters, among whom we cite just Marmomacc, Veronafiere, Allied Stone Industries, the Stone Fabricators Alliance, the Vitória Stone Fair – which contributed to its success.

And so to date TISE and TISE East, together with their competitor, Coverings, are the North American reference events for the stone sector, for flooring and facing and tiled products, an authentic showcase for business but also for the educational aspect so obviously insisted on, given the rich calendar of practical demonstrations and updating courses offered by both events. In fact, the educational program, which commenced on October 19,lasted four days, one more than the actualtradeshow, and offered numerous seminars,workshops and study sessions, most of them accredited by prestigious associations like the American Institute of Architects (AIA) or the Interior Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC) and enabling participants to get study credits or even TISE East Masters Certification.

Among the many there was a full-day course for architects and designers on “Designing with Natural Stone” organized by the Marmomacc Stone Academy and also quite a few sessions devoted to problems of environmental sustainability and green design. In fact, early this year new standards took force in the United States for eco-sustainable natural stone production, the ANSI/NSC 373.

Interesting and useful in rationing space were several dedicated areas: the Social Learning Lab for learning all the secrets of the new media by now indispensable for staying “connected”, the Artisan Avenue and the Product Marketplace presenting special products, and The Cage, offering live demonstrations by the Stone Fabricators Alliance.

TISE East was conceived at a time of renewed confidence in the United States, where the  economy is getting back on track while elsewhere it is having a hard time doing so. As proof of this, in the October issue of its World Economic Outlook the International Monetary Fund downsized its estimates of global growth: world GDP in 2014 should grow by 3.3% and by 3.8% in 2015 (compared to July forecasts, 0.1% and 0.2% less, respectively). Faring worst is mainly the Eurozone, where Italy is in a recession and even France and Germany are slowing down. America is doing better although this year, where GDP is concerned, it has been surpassed by China as the world’s leader. In any case, thanks to increased productivity, to its monetary policy and favorable financing conditions, to a reduction of the tax burden and lessening of the budget deficit in the 2014 fiscal year which ended September 30 (2.8% of GDP compared to the 4.1% of 2013 according to preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office), to  improvements in household incomes and on the housing market, the uptake in the United States is moving so quickly that the IMF raised its growth forecast for 2014 to 2.2%, 0.5% higher than July’s predictions, although the estimate for 2015 remains unchanged (+3.1%). The IMF also believes that by the end of the year the unemployment rate will be around 6.3% instead of the 7.4% in 2013.

In particular, the real estate sector - a litmus test to gauge the health of a country’s economy –while seesawing in the U.S. has begun to grow again, especially in housing. Together with New York it is Miami itself (followed by Los Angeles) to attract the biggest foreign investments. In September the NAHB index formulated by the National Association of Home Builders to show current and six-month sales expectations was at 59 points compared to the 55 in August, a figure revealing even more optimism than expected.

This confident climate is a boon for the stone industry, too, closely tied to the building sector. U.S. International Trade Commission figures for the tons of stone materials the country imported in March and April of this year are proof of this (+15.8% of worked granite, +14.7% of worked marble, +53.9% of travertine, +21.9% of other calcareous stones compared to the same period of 2013 [source: Stone Update]) as are the amounts of stones imported from Italy. In fact, according to the Marmomacc Observatory,in the first half of 2014 Italy exported raw and finished stone products to the United States worth 167 million euros (up 0.1% from the first  half of 2013). IMM Carrara instead calculates that from January to June 2014 these exports were worth 169.3 million euros, 3.3% less in volume than in the first half of 2013 but with value essentially unvaried (-0.7%). Aside from these slight discrepancies, the figures in any case show a certain amount of stability on the American market. Even better was the sixmonth picture gotten from Confindustria Marmomacchine’s processing of ISTAT data on Italian exports of stone-working machinery and equipment: with purchases worth 36 million euros, up 30.7% from the first half of 2013, the U.S. took third place among importers from Italy.

Getting back to TISE East, although for now it can be considered an “offshoot” of TISE created just nine months earlier in Las Vegas with about 760 exhibitors (more than a hundred of them in the stone sector) it in any case succeeded in attracting around 200 companies (mainly American), a good part of them working in stone. Not bad as a debut, although we hope that in future there will be a stronger Italian presence on the stone front, for now exiguous probably because of TISE East’s closeness in time to the upcoming TISE in Las Vegas in January 2015 but also to Marmomacc in Verona in late September, which certainly imposed a choice for cost containment. In any case, the Italians exhibiting - more makers of technology than purveyors of materials – were the largest foreign group, followed only by the Chinese. We also mention the group exhibit organized by Veronafiere, long a partner of Hanley Wood, located in the Marmomacc Pavilion. Visitors were almost exclusively American, with few foreigners attending the event.

We will have to wait for future editions to see how this new show will develop but are sure that the location was the right choice, seeing as how the East Coast is an area in ferment and of definite interest where business opportunities are concerned.